Nepali experts sceptical of supply of COVID vaccines from G7

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 will 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 Himalayan 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.

Yubaraj Sangroula, executive director at Kathmandu School of Law, told Xinhua that he doubted whether the vaccine doses promised by G7 nations would arrive in Nepal in the next 7-8 months.

"We cannot put our population at risk until they provide us vaccines. We cannot rule out another wave of the pandemic hitting the country before the vaccine supplies arrive from the developed countries," said Sangroula, a former attorney general.

He said that protectionism adopted by the developed countries in the early days of the vaccination drives had deprived many poor countries of COVID-19 vaccines.

"It appears geopolitical factors also have played a role in big announcements from G7 nations regarding the COVID-19 vaccines," Mahat said.

Govinda Nepal, a senior Nepali economist, told Xinhua that he was not sure whether the vaccines promised by G7 nations would be distributed anytime soon, as it would take months to manufacture and deliver them.