Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive in Nepal amid a special program organised at the Ministry of Health and Population.

Prime Minister Oli virtually inaugurated the vaccination campaign. According to Minister for Health and Population Hridayesh Tripathi, the first phase of the vaccination roll-out would be completed within 10 days.

Stating that Nepal was the second SAARC nation after India to start the vaccination roll-out, minister Tripathi said that the COVID-19 vaccines would be administrated to 12,000 frontline health workers across the nation today.

In the first phase of the vaccination campaign, front-line health workers including doctors, nurses, sanitation workers, people involved in the management of the dead body of virus-infected people, and ambulance drivers among others are being vaccinated across the nation.

India had provided one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine called 'Covisheld' to Nepal under grant assistance.