The Government of Nepal (GoN) has received 348,000 doses of the AstraZeneca ‘Covishield’ vaccine as part of its first COVID-19 vaccine consignment from the COVAX Facility. These vaccines arrived on March 7 at Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu.
Manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and provided to Nepal as part of the historic step towards ensuring the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, the vaccines were accompanied by 350,000 syringes and 3500 vaccine safety boxes.
Representatives of the COVAX technical and funding partners joined Hridayesh Tripathi, Minister of Health and Population of Nepal, in welcoming the global COVAX contribution to Nepal’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts at TIA. These vaccines will be distributed to provinces and municipalities across the country.
On this auspicious occasion, development partners congratulated Nepal for being among the first countries in the world to have launched COVID-19 vaccination efforts in January 2021. They also reiterated their solidarity with Nepal as demonstrated by the arrival of the first COVAX vaccine contribution.
The only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide, the COVAX Facility is a partnership between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations), UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
- The COVAX facility aims to supply Nepal with sufficient doses to vaccinate 20% of the population depending on funding availability
- Under the first COVAX allocation, the COVAX Facility will deliver 1.92 million vaccine doses to Nepal by the end of May 2021
- With contribution from the Government of India, Nepal was able to commence the vaccination campaign
- In Nepal, a total of 429,705 people have so far been vaccinated
- COVAX-supported vaccines are anticipated to provide a critical contribution to the GoN’s National Deployment and Vaccination Plan
- These vaccines are intended for roughly 22 million people including refugees, migrant returnees, and other migrant populations
- The COVAX Facility is the global pooled procurement mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines for all 190 participating economies using an allocation framework formulated by WHO
- CEPI focuses on the COVAX vaccine research and development portfolio whereas GAVI is concentrated on procurement and delivery for COVAX
- UNICEF, along with the Pan-American Health Organization, is acting as procurement coordinator for the COVAX Facility
- Similarly, WHO engages in multiple roles within COVAX such as providing normative guidance on vaccine policy, ensuring harmonized review and authorization across member states, and providing global coordination on vaccine safety monitoring
Emphasizing that the arrival of the COVAX supplied vaccines will boost Nepal’s vaccination efforts, the press statement issued by the United Nations in Nepal reads:
“The arrival of COVAX in Nepal coincides with the launch of the second phase of the vaccination campaign which targets those who are most vulnerable to developing severe illness from COVID-19 including the elderly and people with comorbidities. The second phase will also target teachers, as part of the expanded group of frontline workers.”
Earlier on the same day (March 7), having been given the vaccine at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, K P Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal, launched the second phase of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Under this second phase, individuals aged 65 and above are being vaccinated.
Partners contributing to the COVAX Facility include the governments of Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union as well as foundations and corporations.
The COVID-19 vaccines delivered under the COVAX Facility are expected to contribute to the GoN’s efforts to vaccinate some of the most vulnerable people across Nepal.
