Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonchhen Dr Lotay Tshering has said his government hoped to begin administering the second shot of Covid 19 vaccine to the kingdom’s eligible population in four weeks.

Replying to queries in the National Assembly, the prime minister said India has assured support for the second dose of the vaccination, while his government is in discussion with 15 other countries including Israel, Russia and the US to procure the doses.

“Given the good relation between the two countries (India and Bhutan), we are confident that we would receive the vaccines,” Lyonchhen said. “We are hopeful that in the next four weeks we can vaccinate all the 526,000 eligible population in the country.”

However, he added that it would be discourteous to pressure the Indian government, given the current grim situation due to the ongoing second Covid wave in the country..

He said one of the largest manufacturers of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Serum Institute of India (SII), currently produced some 70 to 80 million doses of the vaccine every month. However, the local demand in India was more than 800 million doses.

He said about 95 percent of the eligible population in Bhutan  had already received the first dose.

Lyonchhen said health minister Dechen Wangmo, who is currently attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, as its president, is also exploring means to secure some vaccines for the country.

Wangmo would also meet World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom  Ghebreyesus in the next two days to discuss the vaccine scenario.

(SAM)