On Wednesday, 75-year-old Jaya Bahadur Chand, a resident of Chatakpur in Dhangadhi Sub-metropolis Ward 3, got vaccinated against Covid-19. Chand, who got inoculated against measles, cholera and other diseases early in his life, shared his happiness at getting the jab against Covid-19.

“I was restless throughout the pandemic. Now I can breathe easy,” said Chand.

Govinda Singh Bista, 73, of Bedkot Municipality in Kanchanpur was also vaccinated against smallpox at the age of 17. “I got vaccinated against Bifar in Uttarakhand, India. I hadn’t felt good after the vaccine. I was afraid this time too but I’m feeling fine.”

On Wednesday, Bista got the shot against Covid-19 at the Mahendranagar-based Mahakali Hospital.

There was a crowd of citizens above 65 years at the Covid-19 Vaccination Centre in Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City on Wednesday. Like Chand, many people expressed their happiness at getting vaccinated against the virus.

Hari Chand, aged 87, of Bhimdutta Municipality-15 in Kanchanpur district was hesitant to get vaccinated initially. “But I haven’t experienced any side effects so far,” said Chand, who had endured various epidemics but was not administered any vaccine before the India-manufactured Covishield.

According to Lalit Dhami, chief at the Health Office in Kailali, the vaccination against Covid-19 was initiated in four local units of the district on March 7. He said vaccination campaigns started in Dhangadhi, Gauriganga, Tikapur and Lamki Chuha. A total of 18,608 people were administered the vaccine in the district until March 9. Earlier, 4,184 health workers and other frontline workers were vaccinated against the virus in the first phase. In the second phase, 6,710 people including media persons and security personnel received the vaccine.

In Kanchanpur, the vaccination campaign is underway in all nine local units. Twenty-nine centres have been set up in the district to vaccinate people above 65 years. According to Siddaraj Bhatta, the public health inspector at the District Health Office, Kanchanpur, two health workers and three women health volunteers have been mobilised in each centre. According to him, 10,626 people have been vaccinated as of Tuesday.

According to Bhatta, no health complications have been reported so far due to the vaccine received from the Serum Institute of India. “Even educated people were reluctant to take the vaccine initially. There were some rumours but everything is okay now,” he added.