KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) – India on Thursday sent 1 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to Nepal, a gift that is likely to help restore the strained ties between the two neighbors.
Nepal’s Health Minister Hridayesh Tripathi said the vaccine against AstraZeneca / Oxford University, which is manufactured under license by the Serum Institute of India, would be given to health workers and other frontline staff within a week to ten days.
Tripathi said Nepal wanted to buy another 4 million doses, and asked the Indian government for help. There was no immediate response from Indian officials who were at the airport when the vaccine arrived.
Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali flew to India last week to formally request the vaccine.
India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, started delivering coronavirus vaccine to its neighbors this week as it tries to find a balance between enough doses to vaccinate its own people and help developing countries without the ability to vaccinate their own. produce.
The Indian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it had sent 150,000 doses to Bhutan and 100,000 doses to the Maldives and that they would send more to Bangladesh, Myanmar and the Seychelles in the coming weeks.
Relations between India and Nepal have been strained by a territorial dispute that has led to an exchange of strongly worded statements by the two parties.
India also accused the communist government of Nepal of coming closer to another giant neighbor, China.