COVID-19 vaccine to 5-12 age group from Today

Children aged between 5 to 12 years are being administered the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from today (Thursday) across the country.

For the vaccination, 1300 vaccination centers have been designated wherein a total of 3.9 million children will be administered the vaccine, said Basanta Adhikari, chief of the Kathmandu district health office at a press conference here on Wednesday. 

All preparations for it in Kathmandu have been completed, he informed, adding that 190,000 children of the targeted age group will get vaccinated at their respective schools in the district. Likewise, the vaccination will also be available at children's correction home and prisons, he said.

Approximately 2.2 million doses of the vaccine arrived in Nepal on June 19 with the assistance of the United States of America through COVAX.

Director-General of the Department of Health Services Dr. Dipendra Raman Singh urged parents to get their children vaccinated as the vaccine is ‘91 percent effective’. 

A trained health worker will be deployed at each vaccination center to ensure primary treatment for vaccinated children who may show side effects post-vaccination in the form of a headache, vomit, and rashes, he said. Other health workers and volunteers will be managed as well depending on the pressure of the beneficiaries. 

Under the vaccination campaign, children between the age group from 27 districts will be administered the first dose from June 23 to 29 and the second dose from July 18 to 24.

Likewise, in the second phase, the first dose will be administered to children of 50 districts from August 21 to 27 and the second dose from September 12 to 17.

Beneficiaries should produce details of their school grades and identity cards or any identity card specifying their age produced by their parents.