KATHMANDU: Former Minister of Health and Population Hridayesh Tripathi has revealed that the process of purchasing COVID-19 vaccine could not move forward due to the Chinese side’s non-disclosure on the purchase price.
Nepal had offered to buy a total of 10 million doses of the vaccine from China. Of that, Nepal had sought 2 million doses in the first lot.
According to Tripathi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) through the Nepali Embassy in Beijing initiated talks to buy 2 million doses of the Chinese Vero cell vaccine after the Department of Drug Administration (DDA) approved it.
To the Nepali proposal, the Chinese company put forward a “non-disclosure agreement”, Tripathi said, adding, that the company rule stipulated that data of its vaccines use could not be shared with anyone.
According to Tripathi, the procurement process would have been expedited if the Chinese side had made public the price of vaccine.
The Chinese side is yet to respond to Nepal’s letter inquiring of the price of the 2 million doses of vaccine and the time by which they are able to deliver them, as per Tripathi.
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