June 1: A consignment of 800,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines gifted by China has arrived in Kathmandu. Nepal Airlines, the state-owned airlines, airlifted the vaccines from Beijing on Tuesday.

China has decided to provide one million doses of Covid vaccines under its grant assistance following a request from President Bidya Devi Bhandari to her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. 

During a telephone conversation held with President Bhandari on May 26, Chinese President Xi Jinping had announced that China will provide one million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Nepal under grant assistance. 

According to a statement of Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the remaining 200,000 doses of the vaccine are being provided to Nepal by the Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Accordingly, 50,400 doses of the vaccine and syringes have been handed over to the officials of the Ministry of Health and Population on Tuesday morning, and another batch of 50,400 vaccines and syringes is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu this evening, according to the statement. The consignment of remaining 99,200 vaccines and syringes will arrive in Kathmandu on Wednesday. 

Though it’s not immediately clear which vaccine China has provided to Nepal, the Department of Drug Administration has authorized only Vero Cell as the vaccine manufactured in China for the emergency use in Nepal. 

This is the second time that China gifted Covid vaccines to Nepal. Earlier in March, China had provided Nepal 800,000 doses of Vero Cell.