Source::Xinhuanet
XINHUA/RSS
Nepali experts welcomed the commitment of Group 7 (G7) nations to providing 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries over the next year, but they doubt whether the vaccines would be available anytime soon for Nepal.
Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, has suffered badly during the second wave of the coronavirus infections that hit the country in early April. Due to a short supply of vaccines, it has managed to have just over 2 percent of its roughly 30 million population administered with both shots of COVID vaccines.
The developed countries initially prioritized inoculating their own population, thus undermining the vaccination efforts in poor countries, said Ram Sharan Mahat, Nepal's former finance and foreign minister. "Had they supported the poor countries, particularly from South Asia, by giving vaccines alongside with their own vaccination drives, people here would not have suffered as badly as they did during the second wave of the pandemic," he told Xinhua.
Nepal has received some 4 million doses of vaccines, including grants from China and India, but has not got a single shot from any G7 nation so far, though the United States listed Nepal as a receiver of its vaccines early this month. The number of COVID-19 infections has been dropping lately in Nepal, but the Ministry of Health and Population warned about a potential third wave of the pandemic.
"As the threat of a new wave of the pandemic persists, Nepal should not rely fully on when the G7 nations would give the vaccines," Mahat said. "The government should take (the) initiative to procure vaccines as early as possible to inoculate the population at the earliest." At a time when rich countries are facing criticism for ignoring the world's poor in vaccinating against COVID-19, it is a welcome move that the developed countries finally agreed to provide vaccines to poor countries, Mahat added.
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