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Nepal’s envoy on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to the Indian government for gifting 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, adding that the Himalayan nation is “confident” of getting more doses of the vaccine.
“We are grateful to the Indian Government for gifting 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. We are confident that we will get more vaccines, that we have ordered. We thank the Indian government and people, they are a good neighbour and friend,” the ambassador said.
With a population of nearly 30 million, Nepal has turned out to India for help to procure vaccines as it plans to inoculate nearly 75 per cent of its population.
On January 15, Nepal had approved the use of Covishield developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII) for emergency use. Last week, Nepal began its nationwide inoculation drive after receiving one million Covishield vaccines, manufactured by the SII.
Nepal’s caretaker Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli expressed his gratitude towards India for providing one million dosages of Covishield vaccine within a week of its rollout in India.
The vaccination drive in Nepal that started across 62 hospitals and 120 vaccine centres across the country is expected to continue for 10 days.
In the first phase of its inoculation drive, the Nepal government has planned to vaccinate a total of 450,000 frontline workers of various fields with two doses of Covishield vaccine to each.
When asked about reports of increased infrastructure projects by China in Nepal, the ambassador said: “India and Nepal have close cultural, historical and social connections. We share many values and we are inheritors of a common civilization. We should think about maintaining it and not about other areas”.
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