President Bidya Devi Bhandari has requested her Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind to help provide COVID-19 vaccines to Nepal.
Information and Communication Expert to the president, Tika Dhakal, said President Bhandari has written through the diplomatic channel urging the Indian head of state to take initiative to provide vaccines to Nepal.
President Bhandari has thanked India and the Indian people in the letter for providing vaccines earlier on grant and asked Kovind to take initiative to provide one million doses of Covishield that Nepal has already paid for in March.
India first provided one million doses of Covishield to Nepal on grant and then Nepal signed a deal to procure two million doses of the vaccine from India. But just one million doses of that have been delivered until now.
Old adults above 65 years, who were given the first dose of Covishield in March, have not been given the second dose due to lack of vaccines.