Kathmandu, Jan. 21 -- The first lot of 1 million Covishield vaccines donated by the Indian government to Nepal as part of its good-neighbourly 'Vaccine Maitri' campaign arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday.

The challenge now is to get the jabs to high risk groups in remote areas, as well as injecting two doses to the arms of an estimated 18 million Nepalis older than 15 during the year.

Nepal will ultimately need 36 million vials of various vaccines during 2021. Fortunately, the country has a good record in maintaining the cold chain for child immunisation programs, and it is also got a stellar reputation for multiple-dose treatment like DOTS for tuberculosis.

However, there are still so many uncertainties about the duration of vaccine imm...