India to provide 1 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Nepal

A worker pushes a trolley loaded with boxes of COVID-19 vaccines at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, Jan. 21, 2021. One million doses of COVID-19 vaccines supplied by India arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)

KATHMANDU, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- India will supply one million doses of COVID-10 vaccines to Nepal as assistance, Nepal's Minister of Health and Population Hridayas Tripathi announced on Wednesday.

"The vaccines to be made available by India will arrive in Nepal on Thursday," he said at a joint press meet organized by the ministry and the Indian embassy in Kathmandu.

The Nepali government plans to vaccinate 72 percent of its population aged 15 years and above. On Jan. 15, Nepal's drug regular the Department of Drug Administration had approved this vaccine for emergency use in Nepal.

Health workers, sanitation workers, security personnel and those involved in management of anti-COVID-19 efforts will be first inoculated with the vaccines. According to the health ministry, their number is around 900,000. "All administrative, technical and financial preparations have been completed to start vaccination," said Tripathi.

Dr. Shyam Raj Upreti, coordinator of the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee under the health ministry told Xinhua on Wednesday that the vaccination drive would start within two weeks after the vaccines arrive in the country.