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Nepal PM thanks India for coronavirus vaccines

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Jan 27, 2021, 05:52 PM IST
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File photo of Nepal PM Oli Photograph:(Reuters)

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Nepal launched its coronavirus vaccination drive on Wednesday

Nepal's caretaker PM KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday expressed his gratitude for India for providing coronavirus vaccines to Nepal. India has dispatched one million doses of Covishield vaccine within a week of its rollout in India. On Wednesday, Nepal launched its innoculation drive. Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the inoculation drive in Kathmandu, Oli thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing vaccine doses to Nepal.

"We got an early chance to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. For this, I extend my gratitude to our neighbour: India, its people and government and especially to Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They sent the vaccine to us within about a week of its roll out in India," Oli said.

The inauguration ceremony was held virtually. Oli said that with the help of vaccines, the inoculation drive in Nepal will be completed within three months.

In the first phase of the vaccination drive, the government is inoculating the `Covishield` vaccine gifted by India to around 450,000 frontline workers, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.Last week, the Government of India gifted a million doses of the `Covishied` vaccine to Nepal. 

The vaccine was jointly developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca -- a British-Swedish pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company. It has been branded as `Covishield` in India, and is produced by the Serum Institute of India.

(With agency inputs)