Nepal urges U.S. to provide vaccines on ‘priority’ basis

It asks for a share from surplus doses

Nepal on Monday urged the U.S. to provide vaccines on a “priority” basis, according to an official statement. In a telephonic conversation with U.S.’s Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali asked for a share of the surplus Oxford-AstraZeneca doses that the U.S. intends to distribute among the developing countries, according to the statement. “Minister Gyawali conveyed the gratitude of the Government of Nepal to the United States for the generous COVID-related cooperation, which helped scale up the national capacity to address the pandemic. Commending the U..S leadership in garnering collaborative response against the global pandemic, the Foreign Minister requested the Deputy Secretary of State to accord due priority to Nepal during the distribution of surplus vaccines among the developing nations,” the official statement said.