Special request for vaccine supply by President Bhandari to Indian counterpart via correspondence

KATHMANDU: President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has made a special request to her Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind to supply the vaccine against COVID-19 to Nepal. 

According to a source, President Bhandari has written to the Indian President to take initiative and provide the required amount of the second dose of the vaccine to those Nepali citizens who have been vaccinated with the first dose of Covishield. 

As of Tuesday, 2.1 million people in Nepal have been vaccinated with the first dose and are waiting for the second dose. India has already provided 2 million doses of Covishield vaccine to Nepal previously. 

The remaining one million doses of vaccine are yet to come. Nepal has taken a special initiative through the President after the Serum Institute said that it will export vaccines only from the end of 2021. 

In a letter to her Indian counterpart, President Bhandari expressed sorrow over the damage caused by the pandemic in India. Similarly, it has urged been to fight against the pandemic by cooperating with each other.