Kathmandu (Nepal), November 15: The Nepali government started vaccinating its population aged below 18 with COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday, said a senior official from the Ministry of Health and Population.
"We have started vaccinating people aged 12 and above with the Pfizer vaccine starting from Sunday," Sagar Dahal, chief of the National Immunization Program under the ministry, told Xinhua. "It is for the first time that we vaccinate people aged under 18."
He made it clear that only those with morbid health conditions like heart disease and diabetes would be administered with the Pfizer vaccine in the first phase.
After receiving 100,640 doses of the Pfizer vaccine last month under the global COVAX initiative, the Nepali government started vaccinating the younger population with the U.S.-made jabs.
Dahal said the government is planning to vaccinate 40,000-45,000 people with the available vaccine. "The second dose of the vaccine will be provided in a month," he added.
According to the Health Ministry, the vaccination drive is being run in 24 hospitals across the country and will last till Nov. 20.
By Sunday afternoon, 8.82 million of Nepal's 30 million population have received first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, while 7.55 million have been fully vaccinated, the ministry said.
The Nepali government aims to vaccinate all the population by mid-April next year.
Source: Xinhua