India – currently the world’s largest vaccine producer – has sent 1 million coronavirus vaccine doses to Nepal. Officials confirmed Thursday that the vaccines had arrived safely.
Relations between India and Nepal have historically been tense as both nations repeatedly clash over border issues. The latest gesture from India is expected to ease those tensions and hopefully repair the soured relations between the two nations.
Nepal health minister Hridayesh Tripathi said that the vaccines that were given by India will be used to inoculate high-priority citizens such as healthcare workers, frontline personnel, and the elderly. Nepal hopes to administer the first batch of doses within the next 10 days.
Over the past weeks, India has been supplying coronavirus vaccines to its neighboring countries. Indian officials said that it is working hard to strike a balance between vaccinating its own people and helping out countries that are unable to procure or make vaccines.
India’s foreign ministry said that it had already sent hundreds of thousands of doses to several countries that desperately need the vaccines. The ministry said that it sent 100,000 doses to the Maldives and 150,000 doses to Bhutan on Wednesday. The country plans to send out more doses to Myanmar and Seychelles in the coming weeks.
India manufactures the vaccine candidate developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. The vaccines are produced by the Serum Institute of India under a license given to the company.
