COVID-19: Nepal starts vaccinating nationals aged under 18

Nepal on Sunday started vaccinating its population aged below 18 with COVID-19 vaccines.

"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, reported Xinhua. "It is for the first time that we vaccinate people aged under 18."

The government official clarified that only those with morbid health conditions like heart disease and diabetes would be administered with the Pfizer vaccine in the first phase.

Last month, the Nepali government started vaccinating the younger population with the US-made jabs, after receiving 100,640 doses of the Pfizer vaccine under the global COVAX initiative.

Dahal said the Nepali 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.

The COVID-19 vaccination drive is being run in 24 hospitals across the country and will last till Novement 20, according to the Health Ministry.

By Sunday afternoon, 8.82 million of Nepal's 30 million population have received the 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 April 2022.

( With inputs from ANI )

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