Kathmandu, Nepal, February 9, 2021: Even though the government had put about 430,000 people on the priority list to get the Covid-19 vaccine, only 184,857 people have taken it in the first phase.
As only about 43 percent of the targeted group from the frontline heath workers gets a shot of the vaccine, serious questions have emerged not only over the government’s planning but also the efficiency of the vaccine.
Huge numbers of frontline workers including the doctors, nurses, hospital support staff and sanitation workers have refused to get vaccinated raising concerns of safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. The government had set 6:00 pm on Saturday as deadline to accomplish the first phase of vaccinating period.
Concerned experts have labeled blame to the government for failing to vaccinate even to the frontline medical workers. According them, failure of the government to make the people aware of the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine and apathy to carry out proper studies and laying plans is responsible for the low coverage of the vaccine.
The ‘Covishield’ vaccine gifted by India was targeted to administer the frontline workers in the first phase. The government had rolled out the first phase of immunization on January 27 using vaccines. The southern neighbor, India, had gifted a million doses of ‘Covishield’ vaccine to Nepal on January 21.
The Covishield vaccine was jointly developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca- a British-Swedish pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Company. Likewise, Serum Institute of India has been producing the vaccine branding it as Covishield.
