Nepal Prez appeals to India, China to provide COVID-19 vaccines

Kathmandu: Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Wednesday appealed to her Indian and Chinese counterparts to help her country in getting uninterrupted supply of COVID-19 vaccines as it faces a huge shortage of the Coronavirus shots, according to a media report.

President Bhandari wrote to her Indian counterpart President Ram Nath Kovind to help Nepal on the matter, The Himalayan Times reported.

She communicated to President Kovind via a diplomatic channel, requesting him to take initiative to provide the vaccines, it said. President Bhandari also thanked India for providing vaccines under India's 'Vaccine Maitri' initiative and the COVAX facility.

On January 2, Nepal received one million doses from the Serum Institute of India (SII). It has also received a total of 348,000 doses of Covishield vaccine under the COVAX facility on March 7.

Bhandari also held an hour-long telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During the conversation, the president relayed to President Xi that Nepal is looking forward to purchasing China manufactured vaccines for its people. She appealed to the Chinese government to make the vaccines available for procurement at the earliest possible.