6 August 2021, Kathmandu
The AstraZeneca vaccines sent by Bhutan to Nepal have arrived on Friday. A Druk Air flight landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport Friday morning with the vaccines. Bhutan has provided the vaccines to Nepal after administering double doses to all its eligible citizens.
Senior pharmacy officer with the Vaccination Division Bade Babu Thapa told Setopati that 21 boxes of the shots have arrived. “The exact number of doses that have arrived will be known only after storing them in the cold chain,” he stated. “The Foreign Ministry had said around 300,000 doses will arrive.”
The government has yet to reveal whether Bhutan has provided the vaccines in grant or lent them. The vaccines arriving from Bhutan will be administered as the second dose to the older adults who received their first dose of Covishield in March. Around half of the 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca pledged by Japan are set to arrive by the end of the week.
The government will start administering second dose to the older adults with doses received from Bhutan and Japan.
Around 1.30 million Nepalis older than 65 years have not been able to receive second dose of Covishield (AstraZeneca made in India) after receiving the first dose in March following India’s ban on export of vaccines to other countries.
