With storage facilities filled, Nepal urges COVID-19 vaccine providers to delay shipments to avoid logistic issues

KATHMANDU, December 20: At the time when the poor and underdeveloped nations are unable to get proper access to COVID-19 vaccines, Nepal has urged the COVID-19 vaccine providers including COVAX facility to delay their shipments after the storage facilities of the country is filled with the shipments of large number of vaccines at the same time.

The government has delayed the shipment of 9,870,500 doses of Covishield vaccines which were scheduled to arrive on Monday as 1,201,887 doses of Verocell vaccines are arriving in the country on the same day, according to the Logistic Management Section under the Department of Health Service.

In the next few days, Nepal is scheduled to receive millions of doses of Verocell, Covishield and Pfizer vaccines. Even if the officials at the Logistic Management Section are maintaining that there is no immediate problem in logistics and storage, it is almost certain that the country is likely to have logistical issues, including storage if the vaccination management is not carried out effectively.

The country has begun administering additional doses of vaccine to elderly and the Pfizer vaccine to children aged between 12 to 17 recently.