KATHMANDU: The government is administering COVID-19 vaccines brought from America and China to Nepali citizens from Wednesday.

A meeting chaired by Minister for Health and Population Krishna Gopal Shrestha decided to  administer Johnson & Johnson vaccines brought from America to the people aged between 50 to 54 years of age.

Similarly, the Vero Cell brought from China will be administered to the people above 55 years of age.

Vero Cell will be administered to people above 55 years of age, school teachers, staffers, drivers and co-drivers of public vehicles and those flying to the foreign countries where vaccination is mandatory.

According to the country, Johnson & Johnson will be administered to the people aged between 50 to 54 years of age, the disabled, and refugees in Nepal and health workers.

Those vaccine recipients have to go to the designated vaccination centers with the government documents, said the Ministry.

One million and five hundred thousand doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines donated by the United States of America (USA) arrived in Nepal on July 11.

According to the US Embassy in Nepal, this vaccine requires only one shot to be fully vaccinated — meaning 1.5 million people will soon be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Nepal.

Similarly, the Nepal government brought 800,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from northern neighbor China on July 9.