Nepalis wait in long queues to receive Chinese COVID-19 vaccines

With the vaccination drive continuing in Kathmandu and its adjacent areas, people have been waiting in long queues outside the vaccination centers as early as 3 am.

At Civil Service Hospital based in Kathmandu, a few people waited from 3 am while tokens were distributed at 8 am and vaccination commenced at 10:30 am. 

“I got to know that Vero Cell vaccine is being administered. I came here to stand in the queue at 3:30am and by the time I reached, there was already a long queue. I have received my token and now I am waiting for the vaccine,” Prakash, a Kathmandu resident told WION. 

More than 1,000 people were in the queue waiting for their turn to receive the jab when WION visited the place on Saturday morning which was the second day of the vaccination drive. 

The Nepali government has been administering vaccines bought from China amid resurging COVID-19 cases across the country. 

“I am here to get the COVID-19 vaccines. I came here at 4:45 AM to stand in the queue. We were informed that the distribution of tokens will begin from 7am but for some reason it got delayed. I came here yesterday too but had to go back home without the vaccine. Today I hope I will get my shot,” Sushma, another Kathmandu resident told WION. 

Disappointment prevailed among many people who did not receive tokens even after waiting for hours in the morning. 

Speaking to WION on the vaccination drive, Mangal Prajapati, Civil Hospital Nursing In-charge said, “We had a target to vaccinate 600 people and were able to do more than that. But around 150 people were sent back home yesterday. So, today we will try to cover that section of the people.”

“For today, we plan to vaccinate 800 people but it seems we would have to at least vaccinate 1000 people looking at the queue. More than 1000 people are standing in the queue,” she added. 

COVID-19 infections are increasing in Nepal, with 2,402 new infections reported on average each day. 

Nepal has administered at least 5,682,627 doses of COVID vaccines so far. 

During the last week, Nepal averaged about 97,926 doses administered each day. At that rate, it will take a further 59 days to administer enough doses for another 10 per cent of the population.