South Asian Nations Turn To China, Russia For COVID-19 Vaccine Supplies

Nepal halted inoculations at the end of May amid shortage, while Sri Lanka has been aggressively rolling out China's Sinopharm jab after receiving two million doses in the past week

Sri Lanka began injecting pregnant women with a Chinese coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday and Nepal resumed inoculations with a China-made jab as India's neighbours turn to Beijing and Moscow for help with supplies. Nepal halted inoculations at the end of May after its stock of AstraZeneca shots and Chinese Sinopharm jabs ran short. The programme resumed on Tuesday after a million more Sinopharm doses arrived from China, the only country that has so far responded to its appeals for help. India had previously supplied Nepal with the AstraZeneca vaccine from Serum Institute but in March froze vaccine exports as infections soared domestically.