Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli receives a jab of COVID-19 vaccine in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, March 7, 2021. KP Sharma Oli received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday as the country started the second phase of vaccination drive against COVID-19. (Office of Prime Minister/Handout via Xinhua)
KATHMANDU, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday as the government started the second phase of vaccination drive against COVID-19 in the Himalayan country.
"Prime Minister Oli along with his wife Radhika Shakya received the vaccine at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu," the Prime Minister's Personal Secretariat said in a press statement on Sunday.
Among the government officials receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday were also Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and Industry Minister Lekh Raj Bhatta, according to the Prime Minister's Office.
According to the health ministry, it is vaccinating the people aged above 65 years in the second round of Nepal's vaccination drive. Official data showed there are 1.7 million people aged above 65 years in the country.
The health ministry said Nepal has over 1.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine after the arrival on Sunday of 348,000 doses of vaccine from the COVAX Facility, an international initiative co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners to ensure equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines.
"We have observed widespread participation of elderly people in our vaccination drive after the second phase began," Dr. Shyam Raj Upreti, coordinator of the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee told Xinhua on Sunday.
"Currently, we are vaccinating the people aged above 65 years," said the health ministry official.
Nepal started its vaccination drive against the coronavirus epidemic on Jan. 27 and a total of 429,705 people in the priority groups including health workers, sanitization workers, journalists and employees at diplomatic offices received vaccines in the first phase, according to the health ministry.
