Govt to administer AstraZeneca vaccine for those awaiting second dose of Covishield

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has announced that it will administer Astrazeneca vaccine for those awaiting second dose of Covishield vaccine.

Issuing a press statement on Sunday, the Ministry informed that Nepal is in verge of receiving the Astrazeneca vaccine soon as double dose of the same jab will be given to those who are waiting the second dose of Covishield vaccine.

With cases of coronavirus infections rising exponentially, those who had the first dose of Covishield vaccine more than 14 weeks ago are getting impatient. Over 1.3 million people aged above 65 had taken their first doses of the vaccine from March 7 to March 15. They were supposed to get the booster dose eight to 12 weeks after the first dose. This means, they should have taken the second jabs by June 6.

However, 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.