KATHMANDU, AUGUST 18

Kathmandu Health Office has started providing the first dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to the general public.

As per the office, people who have requested for the vaccine through online registration have been included in the vaccination drive that kicked off yesterday.

Earlier, Nepal had received 230,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Bhutan and 513,000 doses from Japan. The vaccine was given to senior citizens above 65 years of age. The second dose of Covishield and the leftover doses were administered to people of other age groups.

According to Chief of Child Health and Immunisation Section, Department of Health Services Dr Jhalak Sharma Gautam, all the senior citizens who got the first shot of Covishield might not have taken AstraZeneca as the second dose, so there are leftover doses of the vaccine.

All the local levels in Kathmandu district have Covid-19 vaccination centres.

According to the Office, Kathmandu metropolis has five vaccination centres followed by one centre at Kirtipur, Tarakeshwor, Nagarjun, Budhanilkantha, Kageshwori-Manahara, Tokha and Gokarneshwor municipalities each.

Radhaswami Isolation Centre, Nepal Police Hospital, Bir Hospital, Birendra Military Hospital and Civil Hospital have served as COVID-19 vaccination centres for Kathmandu metropolis.

Kathmandu metropolis has also planned to add more centres as per the need.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 19 2021, of The Himalayan Times.