Nepal on Thursday received 1 million doses of Vero Cell, a vaccine against COVID-19, from China.
According to Upendra Dhungana, Chief at the Logistic Management Section under the Department of Health Services, additional 1 million doses of Vero Cell arrived from China on Thursday.
The government received 1 million doses Vero Cell vaccines produced by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products out of the agreed 59.36 million doses to be purchased with the loan assistance from the Asian Development Bank through COVAX cost-sharing.
Earlier, on November 3, Nepal had received 1.6 million doses and on October 27, it received 1.2 million doses of Vero Cell vaccine. The procured Vero Cell vaccines are stored at central storage, Teku.
Earlier on Wednesday, Nepal received 492,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine provided by the Switzerland government and the COVAX facility.
A Qatar Airways plane carrying the vaccines landed at Tribhuvan International Airport at 8:15 pm on Wednesday. “We have received 492,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from Switzerland,” said Bade Babu Thapa, a senior official at the Logistic Management Section under the Department of Health Services.
According to Thapa, of the total 492,000 doses of vaccines, 348,000 doses were provided by the COVAX facility and the Switzerland government under grant assistance gifted 144,000 doses.
Meanwhile, Swiss Ambassador to Nepal Elisabeth von Capeller handed over 144,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to the Ministry of Health and Population on Thursday.
Source : TRN,
