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Nepal to get Covid-19 vaccines from COVAX on no-complaint condition only

File: Ministry of Health and Population
File: Ministry of Health and Population

Kathmandu, December 22

Nepal will get Covid-19 vaccines under the COVAX programme of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations through the World Health Organisation only if the country agrees that no legal complaint will be filed against the virus manufacturer in case there are any problems.

Shyam Raj Upreti, the coordinator of the team formed by the Ministry of Health to import the vaccines, says the GAVI has already clarified that the vaccines will be provided only if the governments agree on that condition.

“Because the vaccines are new inventions, the manufacturer has demanded security,” Upreti says, “If we want vaccines, meeting this condition is a must. We do not have any other option.”

Officials in the ministry say the government, hence, now needs to prepare a legal framework to bring the vaccines. The ministry says a team consisting of health, finance and foreign affairs secretaries will make a decision.

Owing to the financial crisis, Nepal is heavily dependent on foreign donors for the import of essential vaccines.

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