With support from the Government of India, Nepal is among two dozen countries in the world to have started a nationwide vaccine campaign against COVID-19. At a time when the first phase of the pandemic is closer to plateau and will likely lead to the second phase, the process of administering COVID-19 vaccine shows a ray of hope to bring life back in secure and safe environment.

Although Nepal has just received one million doses of Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-shield vaccine in a generous grant support, enough for 3 percent of the population, Nepal government has already started to purchase the remaining from the market through government to government channels. People are hoping that the second consignment of the vaccine will arrive soon, which will cover the old and people with poor health conditions. Given the current shortage of vaccine, it is very difficult for Nepal to purchase the vaccine from international market. Nepal has to make another effort at the government to government level with India for another round of vaccine. As launching of Covid-19 vaccine is a major event, we have decided to cover the administration of the vaccine as our main story for this week. We have also covered visit of foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali to India as our second major story.