Kathmandu, February 16
Germany handed over more than 1.5 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s bivalent Covid-19 vaccine to Nepal through the COVAX initiative.
German Ambassador to Nepal, Thomas Prinz, gave the vaccines to the Minister for Health and Population Padam Giri at the Ministry on Wednesday. Present with Prinz were UNICEF Representative to Nepal Elke Wisch and WHO Representative to Nepal Rajesh Sambhajirao Pandav.
“From the beginning of this pandemic, Germany has supported the people of Nepal and has advocated for multilateral solutions like COVAX and ACT-Accelerator. Vaccines are key in the fight against this pandemic and I am delighted to hand over today’s vaccines that were invented in Germany,” said Prinz, adding Germany had supported Nepal with 5.6 million doses of vaccines so far
Although the number of Covid infections in Nepal is relatively low at present, experts remain concerned about potential new surges in the days to come. So far, over 82 per cent of the total population has been vaccinated, with around 9,08 million having received booster shots.
“In light of rising Covid infections in different countries around the world, we are keen to continue administering booster shots and expand protection to more people across Nepal,” said Giri. “This generous assistance from Germany comes at a crucial time to support our vaccination efforts.”
The COVAX Facility is part of the ACT-Accelerator, and brings together several key partners such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO and UNICEF to ensure efficient and equitable global allocation of Covid-19 vaccines.
UNICEF Representative to Nepal Wisch thanked the government and people of Germany for contributing these life-saving vaccines to Nepal.
“On behalf of the COVAX facility, we thank the Government of Germany for providing this boost to the country’s ongoing vaccination drive,” said Wisch.
