The USAID mission director expressed happiness over getting an opportunity to join hands with Nepal in the fight against the pandemic…reports Asian Lite News
A total of 100,620 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States of America arrived in Kathmandu on Monday.
Sepideh Keyvanshad, Mission Director for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Nepal, handed the shipment of coronavirus vaccines given to Nepal on a grant. The shipment was received by Health Secretary Dr Roshan Pokhrel today.
The Health Secretary said that the vaccine aid would help to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. With this donation, the Nepalese government is planning to inoculate people above the age of 12 years and those with chronic health diseases.
The USAID mission director expressed happiness over getting an opportunity to join hands with Nepal in the fight against the pandemic. As well as she committed that the Himalayan Nation also would get additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine in the day to come.
Nepal Health Ministry Spokesperson Dr Krishna Prasad Poudel said the vaccines will be given to people above 12, and the patients with chronic diseases. “The vaccination will start from 23 hospitals in the country after the Chhath festival,” Poudel said.
Moreover, the Sher Bahadur Deuba government is preparing to bring additional six million doses of Pfizer and four million doses of Moderna vaccines from the US.
Pfizer says vax 90.7% effective in kids
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said their Covid-19 vaccine is safe and 90.7 per cent effective against symptomatic coronavirus in children aged 5 to 11.
The companies revealed the data in a document posted on Friday ahead of a meeting of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scheduled for October 26.
Pfizer and BioNTech are applying FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) of a two-dose regimen of their 10-microgram dose for children of the mentioned age group.
The two doses would be administered three weeks apart.
The data show that the two-dose primary series of the vaccine given to children from 5 to less than 12 years of age confers a high degree of protective efficacy against Covid-19 during a period when the Delta variant of concern predominates in the US.
The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet on October 26 to discuss whether to authorise the jab.
If authorised, it would be the first Covid-19 vaccine for younger children.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is currently fully approved for people ages 16 and older, and has an EUA for children aged 12 to 15.
Friday’s announcement comes just days after the White House unveiled a plan to roll out Covid-19 vaccines for children aged from five to 11. (ANI/IANS)