Nepal got 1.66 million doses of Moderna vaccinations on Monday, out of a total of four million doses funded by the World Bank.
The remaining doses will be delivered soon. Adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 will be given Moderna vaccinations to protect them from the health effects of COVID-19.
The vaccines purchased through the COVAX cost-share option meet the World Bank’s Vaccine Approval Criteria for financing and have been certified by the European Medicines Agency and the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency as safe and effective for children as young as 12 years old.
“Nepal was the second country in the world to complete vaccine purchase through the COVAX cost-share plan.”
“As we expand our vaccine coverage to teenagers 12-17 years of age, the supply of Moderna vaccines is opportune for Nepal,” said Birodh Khatiwada, Minister of Health and Population.
Minister Khatiwada stated, “The government is dedicated to vaccinating the whole eligible population by mid-April 2022, and the World Bank-funded Moderna vaccines will be important in helping Nepal accomplish its COVID-19 immunization goal.”
The Moderna vaccines will be administered to adolescent populations through immunisation sites set up in schools, as well as sites to reach out-of-school adolescent populations, in accordance with the recommendations of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee and the National Immunisation Committee.
On January 12, 2022, the World Bank approved a second round of additional funding in the amount of $18 million, bringing the total amount of COVID-19 health response funding to $122 million to help Nepal scale up its vaccination efforts to reach additional eligible populations.
“I am delighted that the World Bank has been able to assist in the distribution of safe and effective vaccines to Nepal’s adolescent and youth populations.”
“This is crucial since the pandemic has already cost Nepal’s children about two years of in-person schooling,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
“I’m optimistic that these vaccines will improve the health and safety of students in the classrooms, as well as enable continuous learning to compensate for the learning missed due to COVID-19.”
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