Japanese-made COVID-19 vaccine airlifting to Nepal on August 7 & 8

KATHMANDU: The Japanese-made AstraZeneca vaccine for Nepal is scheduled to be airlifted on August 5 and 6 from Japan to Nepal, and expected to arrive in Kathmandu on August 7 and 8 respectively, the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu said.

As the result, approximately the half of 1.6 million vaccines Japan has pledged will be delivered to Nepal.

The latter half of the vaccines will be shipped to Kathmandu in due course, under the arrangements with the relevant organizations, the embassy said.

Japanse Ambassador Yutaka Kikuta hopes that these Japanese COVID-19 vaccines will be utilized expeditiously for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, with a good coordination by the Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal.

In this pandemic, the Embassy of Japan has been tackling COVID-19 together with the Government of Nepal to save more Nepali people’s lives. This vaccination assistance is one of our challenges even in this hardship; Ambassador Kikuta looks
forward to working for the post-COVID society and economy of Nepal.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Kikuta has paid a courtesy call on the State Minister of Health and Population Umesh Shrestha
at the Ministry of Health and Population in Ramshahpath on Wednesday.

On this occasion, Ambassador Kikuta congratulated Minister Shrestha for his appointment and they discussed, inter alia, the recent donation by the Government of Japan about 1.6 million doses of Japanese-made COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine for Nepal through COVAX facility, expected to arrive soon.

Ambassador Kikuta expressed his hope for the smooth implementation of vaccination campaign and Minister Shrestha took it with thanks and committed to do so. The Embassy of Japan is now coordinating with the Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal to this effect.

Ambassador Kikuta informed the Minister of Japan’s multiple approaches to fight against COVID-19, mentioning, among others, that Japan took a leading role to establish the COVAX facility and pledged 1,000 million USD in total, and that Japan
has been supporting Nepali hospitals under this difficult situation by the medical equipment assistance and made-in Japan ambulances will come in autumn.

Moreover, Ambassador pointed out that Japan has contributed to UNICEF for the cold-chain facility to ensure that the vaccine would reach down as “Last One Mile Support,” which will be beneficial for all Nepali people.

Ambassador Kikuta shared the view with Minister Shrestha that Japan and Nepal will strengthen the great partnership by their people, as shown in the long history of friendship between our two countries, the Embassy said in a statement.