KATHMANDU, MAY 24
The government has extended the gap for administration of second dose of Covishied Covid-19 vaccine by four weeks.
Earlier, the interval between two doses of Serum Institute of India manufactured Covishield jab was set to 8-12 weeks.
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According to the Ministry of Health and Population, India has shared a new guideline according to which the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine can be administered between 12-16 weeks and as such, Nepal has decided to extend the time-frame accordingly.
The duration since the first round of the jab was administered to the elderly (65+) will reach 12 weeks on June 6. The decision to increase the gap has come at a time when the Nepal government is unable to procure remaining doses covishield vaccines from India, despite having paid for the same.
The COVID-19 vaccination drive has been majorly affected after the Serum Institute failed to deliver the purchased 1 million doses of the COVISHIELD vaccines.
Moreover, it is still uncertain as to when the vaccines will be received especially when the manufacturers have clarified that they will not be able to export the vaccine until at least end of this year.
