By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Aug. 23: 559,360 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines that are provided by Japan under the COVAX facility have arrived in Nepal on Monday.

According to Bade Babu Thapa, Senior Pharmacist of the supply management branch under the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), the Qatar Airlines carrying 559,360 doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccine have arrived today at 9:35 AM.

“We will store the AstraZeneca vaccine in Teku and will distribute it to provinces shortly,” he said.

Dr. Bharat Bhandrai, Immunization Officer at the Child Health and Immunization Section, said that Province 1 and 2 will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine as it is yet to inoculate citizens above 65 years, with a second dose of Covishield.

Of the total 1.6 million AstraZeneca doses to be provided by Japan, Nepal had received nine lakh doses earlier and 208,700 on August 21.

COVAX is a partnership between CEPI, Gavi, UNICEF and WHO; and with international communities for the mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic through a dose-sharing scheme.

Japan has pledged a total of 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine for Nepal through COVAX Facility, of which approximately half of the amount has already been delivered on August 7 and 8 and are being used in the current nation-wide vaccination campaign. The remaining 767,420 doses have arrived in Kathmandu on 21 and 23 August, making the total number of doses to 1,614,740.