KATHMANDU: The government said it would administer the second dose of vaccine against COVID-19 to people, who have received the first dose, from April 20 to 28.

Associate Spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said preparations have been made for administering the second dose during that period as the second dose vaccine has to be administered after eight weeks of receiving the first dose.

The first dose of the Covishield vaccine was given to the health workers, security personnel and journalists working in the frontline as well as the staff of the diplomatic missions from January 27 to February 12.

Around 429 thousand persons received the first dose of the vaccine, which comprises 1.4 per cent of the total population.

He said the government has also forwarded the process of purchasing vaccine with a goal to vaccinating 72 per cent of the country’s population. The government has initiated the process for procuring an additional five million vaccines for this purpose.

Meanwhile, one million out of the two million doses of the Covishield vaccine produced by Serum Institute Company of India and purchased by Nepal has already arrived. The one million doses vaccine is to be administered to people above 55 years from March 7.

The Health Ministry associate spokesperson also said that the 13 million doses of vaccine is also arriving under the COVAX mechanism.

He expressed the confidence that COVID-19 would also be controlled with the help of the vaccine just like measles-Rubella, small pox, Japanese Encephalitis were eradicated through vaccination campaign before this.