People in the 55-64 age bracket to get inoculated ten days later
KATHMANDU, MARCH 7
The vaccination drive to inoculate people above the age of 65 against coronavirus begins throughout the country, today.
The drive has been scheduled until March 12.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will be inaugurating the second phase of the immunization campaign. The Prime Minister will also be inoculated at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, according to Dr Jhalak Sharma Gautam, chief of Child Health and Vaccination Unit under the Department of Health Services, Ministry of Health.
Although the government had earlier announced that all people above the age of 55 would be vaccinated, it later made changes to the age bracket following the lack of adequate vaccines for people falling in this category.
Plans to inoculate university professors, teachers and staff, drivers and assistant drivers of public vehicles -- who were scheduled to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in this phase -- have also been set aside for now and will get the jab as soon as the next lot is procured.
The government has scheduled to vaccinate those aged between 55 and 64 after 10 days following the scheduled arrival of 348,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine under the COVAX facility, on March 7.
The vaccination campaign that started from January 27 in the country has so far vaccinated 429,705 people, 1.4 per cent of the total population including frontline workers -- health workers, sanitation workers, female community health volunteers, prisoners, ambulance workers, people in old-age homes, security personnel involved in the management of Covid-19 related deaths, journalists, financial institutions' employees, diplomatic staff, UN agencies employees, lawmakers, local representatives, and staffers of local governments.
