Covid 19

Three hundred forty-five thousand doses of the new Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent, the new booster dose produced by Pfizer arrived in Nepal on Monday.

The vaccines were received through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), a global alliance working for equitable and sustainable distribution and use of vaccines in poor and developing countries.  

According to Surendra Chaurasiya, chief of the Supply Management Division at the Department of Health Services, the vaccines will be stored at the department at Teku in an ultra-cold freezer. 

This is the first time any bivalent vaccine has been brought to Nepal and will be used to give booster shots to eligible citizens according to officials at the department. 

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, the bivalent vaccines, as its name suggests “contain two components” – a portion of the original strain of the Covid-19 virus and a component of the omicron variant. The original virus strain will provide “broad protection against COVID-19” and the omicron component will provide “better protection against COVID-19 caused by the omicron variant”, it writes.

Because of the two components, the booster is considered effective against the Omicron sub-variant of the Covid-19, coronavirus. 

Health experts say, the natural immunity against Covid decreases over time and it is important to vaccinate with boosters (better if bivalent) to regenerate the immunity.

On December 29, the government demanded 1.5 million booster dose vaccines from Gavi.

A total of 1.5 million doses of the bivalent vaccine would be provided to Nepal under the COVAX facility in four phases, the first of which is already in Kathmandu.

The Health Ministry has also urged all people to take booster doses in the wake of the fast spreading of the new variant of coronavirus, BF.7, omicron.

-With RSS inputs

Also read: Nepal set to receive Covid booster dose