KATHMANDU: Covishield, the vaccine against COVID-19, would be administered from 17 vaccination centres in Kathmandu Valley.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is scheduled to inaugurate the vaccination amidst a virtual programme at 10 am on Wednesday.
Seventeen hospitals in the Valley have been designated as the vaccination centres, Dr Jhalak Sharma Gautam, Director of the Child Health and Vaccination Section at the Department of health Services, said.
According to him, there will be 12 vaccination centres in Kathmandu, three vaccination centres in Lalitpur and two vaccination centres in Bhaktapur.
The vaccination centres in Kathmandu are the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, the Bir Hospital, the Shukraraj Tropical and Communicable Disease Hospital, Nepal Medical College Jorpati, the Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital, the Sahid Dharma Bhakta Organ Transplant Centre, the Armed Police Force (APF) Balambu Hospital and the Sahid Gangalal Hospital etc.
Similarly, the designated vaccination centres in Lalitpur include Patan Academy of health Sciences, KIST Medical College and the Anandaban Hospital.
Likewise, the designated vaccination centres in Bhaktapur are the Bhaktapur Hospital and the Korea Friendship Hospital.
Director Gautam said an inspection has been carried out today at the hospitals designated as vaccination centres in the Kathmandu Valley.
In the inauguration programme, vaccines would be administered simultaneously at the 62 hospitals and more than 120 vaccination centres in all the seven provinces.
The Section has made preparation for administering vaccines through 300 vaccination centres in the 77 districts within January 31.
One million doses of vaccines were brought to Nepal from India on January 21. The Indian government had provided the vaccines under the grant assistance.
Dr Gautam said the vaccines have reached all the provinces. The Ministry of Health and Population will conclude the vaccination campaign within 10 days of the launching of the first phase vaccination. Four hundred thirty thousand persons would be given the vaccines in the first phase.
The government is making preparation to bring vaccines for the next phase of vaccination before the conclusion of the first-phase vaccination.
The Covishield vaccine has been developed jointly by the Oxford University and the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company. The vaccines have been manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
The District COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee will monitor the vaccination in the respective districts.
Included in the first-phase vaccination are the sanitation workers and drivers of vehicles collecting and dumping the waste, the ambulance and mortuary van drivers and helpers, health workers providing direct treatment services or those health workers assigned for vaccination management, security personnel and volunteers mobilised at the vaccination centres, people assigned for managing the dead bodies, women health volunteers, the health workers and other staff at the entry points at the international border and airport, people sheltered at the old-age home and their caregivers, the prison inmates and security persons.
Two hundred sixty-nine thousand 789 people are infected with COVID-19 while 2,011 people have died due to the coronavirus infection so far in Nepal, the Ministry of Health has stated. (RSS)
