APD | Nepali public feels deceived by Indian vaccine company

By APD writerShristi Kafle

Nepal is unlikely to get the already purchased one million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from India before the end of the year, raising concerns on safety of public.

In February this year, Nepal had paid the Serum Institute of India Rs 930 million to purchase two million doses of the Covishield vaccines.

As per the agreement, the company delivered one million of the supplies immediately, which were inoculated to the certain population as the first dose.

However, Nepal hasnt received the second installment of vaccines even in four months.

Earlier, the Nepali Health Minister and ministry officials accepted that vaccine procurement was disrupted since over a month due to the involvement of agents and the commission row.

The Indian company remained mum in the issue.

However, issuing a statement on Tuesday, Serum Institute of India clarified it would not be able to export vaccines to other countries as well as the World Health Organisation’s Covax programme before the end of the year.

“We continue to scale up manufacturing and prioritise India,” the statement reads, “We also hope to start delivering to Covax and other countries by the end of this year.”

The statement has made it clear that the Indian company would not be able to send the vaccines in next 6 months.

Nepal has recorded over 100,000 active positive cases across the country, while the death toll has crossed 5,000. The country has been facing shortage of hospital beds, oxygen supplies and necessary medical supplies.

At a time, when vaccination is seen as the major alternative to prevent the damage caused by COVID-19 infections, the company's announcement has disappointed the general public, who had already received the first dose and waiting for the second one.

People, who are in lockdown since over two weeks, have taken up to the social media to express their fury. People have started demanding the government to look for other options soon, particularly the northern neighbor China, to procure vaccines.

Bishal K Chalise, who works in the area of research and data, in his Twitter post wrote, "I think hope for Nepal getting Covishield is doomed. We should look for other options, soon."

Bed Mani Dahal, an environmentalist by profession, said, "What is the alternative for those who have already received Covishied as the first dose?"

Dr Luna Bhatta Sharma, virologist, shared, "The new variants are circulating in Nepal as per the notice from Health Ministry. This is not good news for us. We might need the help from international communities to overcome this crisis."

In response, the government has said that it has initiated talks with different countries like China and Russia and various companies to procure vaccines. However, there hasn’t been any concrete progress so far.

Currently, Nepal is administering the second dose of Chinese vaccine Verocell to the public starting from Sunday, which it received from the Chinese government in grant assistance in March. The first dose was administered from April first week.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)