Nepal yet to receive 1 million COVID vaccine doses purchased from India: Envoy

Nepal on Friday said it is yet to receive a million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from India, for which the advance payment has already been done.

Nepali Ambassador to India, Nilambar Acharya expressed concern over the shortage of vaccines in the Himalayan nation.

"We are in touch with the Indian government and vaccine manufacturer SII (Serum Institute of India) for about one million more vaccines that are pending, the Nepal government had already paid for two million vaccines in advance. Nepal has received one million vaccines so far," the Nepali envoy told ANI.

India stopped the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to various countries of the world in April in view of the second wave of COVID-19 in the country.

Nepal began its nationwide inoculation drive after receiving one million Covishield vaccines, from the Indian government in January.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Nepal received 24.48 lakh doses of 'Made in India' COVID-19 vaccines. Of which, 11 lakh doses were provided to the Himalayan nation as a grant by the Indian government.

India halted the export of vaccines following the onset of the second wave of COVID-19 in the country.

The Nepali envoy is fully optimistic that the next slot of one million vaccines will land in Nepal in the coming days.

The envoy further said, "We are aware of the second surge of the COVID pandemic in India as well, but, we are hoping that the Indian government will expedite appropriate vaccines for Nepal as we are in a similar situation."

So far, a total of 3,361,468 people have received the coronavirus vaccine across Nepal, which has a population of over 30 million.

Of which 2,604,866 have received the first dose while only 756,602 individuals have been inoculated with both the doses and are fully vaccinated.

( With inputs from ANI )

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