Septuagenarians of Nepal’s Lalitpur get their second shot of Covid-19 vaccine

Jun 24, 2021

Lalitpur (Nepal), June 24 (ANI): Many septuagenarians of Lalitpur were on Wednesday administered their final shot of Covishield after a long gap due to a shortage of vaccine doses in Nepal. Sneha Shakya took her 100-year-old grandmother to a local vaccination centre for her second dose of Covishield vaccine in Lalitpur. Earlier this year, her grandmother was administered the first dose of the anti-COVID vaccine, and by the time she got her second dose, the country had witnessed two earthquakes and major political turmoil. Sneha's grandmother was one of the 1.4 million senior citizens who got the jabs on high-risk assessment. Even though they had to wait for about 12 weeks to get the final dose, most elderly people had not lost hope. Since the start of the inoculation drive earlier in 2021, only 8.5 per cent of Nepal's nearly 30 million population has received its first dose while 2.4 per cent have got both shots. On Wednesday, Lalitpur Municipality inoculated people above 77 years with second doses from a leftover stock at various vaccination centres. It' is not certain when the rest of Nepal's population would be able to get the jabs due to the prevailing political situation in the country. Since the outbreak of coronavirus in early 2020 Nepal already has seen three new health ministers, and final decisions about the purchase of vaccines have to be made. Out of 2.7 million COVID-19 vaccines that have been used in Nepal, most of them has been provided as aid by its neighbours.