KATHMANDU, March 16: Although government officials announced in public that the second batch of vaccines purchased from India’s Serum Institute would arrive by Monday, the vaccine maker did not send the vaccine to Nepal. It is uncertain as to when the company will supply the vaccine to Nepal.  

The company had provided one million vaccine doses out of the two million vaccines purchased by the government and the second batch was expected to arrive in Nepal by March 15 as per the government officials.

The vaccination drive against COVID-19 in Nepal has fallen uncertain after the vaccines did not arrive on time. By Tuesday, more than 1.6 million people will have received the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19. A total of 1.8 million doses of vaccine will be consumed even if the citizens above 55 years of age are inoculated in 12 mountainous and hilly districts with low population. 

In this regard, only 500,000 vaccines will be left in stock. As a result, the remaining vaccines will not be sufficient as the second dose for 1.3 million people who have been vaccinated in the first phase.  

According to the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services, the Serum Institute of India on Monday withheld the scheduled delivery of additional 1 million vaccines after the Indian High Court ruled that the company will not be allowed to sell the doses elsewhere unless it supplies sufficient doses to its citizens. Those who have been vaccinated with Covishield of Serum Institute as the first dose cannot be vaccinated with other vaccines as the second dose. At present, the government has only 500,000 doses of serum vaccine in stock.

“The government has deferred the date of the second phase vaccination. But it is not sure when will this begin,” Chief of the Family Welfare Division, Dr Taranath Pokhrel told Republica on Monday.

Pokhrel said that despite the Delhi High Court's decision not to allow the vaccines to be taken out of the country, the Supreme Court had not ruled on it and India could not stop the vaccines’ delivery as it had a policy of equal distribution of vaccines to give access to people not only to those living in the producing country but to all people living elsewhere in the world. He said that the second dose of vaccine can be given as there is a possibility of delivery of vaccines provided under COVAX facility.

The coordinator of the vaccination campaign against COVID-19, Dr Shyam Raj Upreti said that it is not certain in the current situation that everyone would be vaccinated. “It was dishonest to be told that 5 million more doses of vaccine would be provided,” Dr Upreti said. “Although COVAX said that the vaccine would be delivered within March, uncertainty looms large over its timely delivery. However, efforts are being made at a high level to get the vaccines at the earliest.”

Dr Bhim Singh Tinkari, chief of Supply Division under the Health Services Department, said that it was uncertain as to when Serum Institute would supply the second batch of vaccine. “Serum will provide first priority to the COVAX facility and we will request the stakeholders to prioritize Nepal under the same facility,” Tinkari told Republica. “The government will decide on the continuation of the vaccination campaign. The inoculation drive would see continuation if the vaccines promised by COVAX arrives in Nepal.”  

Tinkari also said that a letter has been written to the Indian embassy through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the vaccination campaign. He informed that the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi is also taking initiatives to speed up the supply of the second batch of vaccines.

Initially, the second batch of vaccines was supposed to be delivered by March 10. But Serum Institute of India had written a letter to the Department of Health Services on March 3 stating that it would not be able to provide the vaccine to Nepal immediately. It was mentioned in the letter that the company wanted to cancel the vaccination purchase agreement with Nepal or postpone the delivery of the vaccines.

In a conversation with the Republica last Friday, Health Minister Hridayesh Tripathi had said that there was an intermediary barrier in the purchase of vaccines. The government wants to buy another 5 million vaccines from the company. Nepal had started the vaccination campaign after India provided one million doses of vaccine produced by the Serum Institute in the third week of January. Nepal is preparing to vaccinate a total of 20 million people. The government has already decided to give the second dose of vaccine after April 20.

 
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