KATHMANDU: Germany has donated vaccines to Nepal as part of the COVID-19 response.

About 1,965,600 doses of the Moderna vaccine as well as 2,176,650 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were provided by Germany to Nepal through the multilateral vaccine platform COVAX this week.

These vaccines add to the in-kind donations of life-saving medical supplies and technical support during this pandemic.

In addition, Germany had also supported the procurement of ultra-low temperature freezers, procured through UNICEF.

“We can only get over this worldwide pandemic together. Therefore, from the very beginning, Germany has been supporting the multilateral platform ACT-A/COVAX and is today the second biggest donor,” Dr Stephan Russek, Chargé d’Affaires at the German Embassy.

“We are proud that we can now share more than 4.1 Million doses of COVID vaccines with the people of Nepal. With these vaccines more than 10 % of the population can get fully vaccinated”, said Dr Russek.

Dr Russek presented the vaccines earlier today to Minister for Health and Population, Birodh Khatiwada, in the presence of EU representative Stepháne Maicon, UNICEF representative Elke Wisch and WHO representative Dr. Vinod Bura.

Nona Deprez, EU-Ambassador to Nepal, congratulated on this consignment: “The European Union is so far the biggest donor of COVID-19 vaccines in the world.”

She said, “EU Member States have shared more than 350 million doses for donation to countries around the world. In total, we will secure 700 million doses for sharing by Team Europe by the middle of 2022. I am glad, that Germany as part of Team Europe shows Nepal that the best partnerships are when we support each other”

“Thanks to the generous contribution from the Government of Germany and other COVAX partners, the Government of Nepal vaccination programme has been making good progress. The vaccines and the cold chain equipment procured with support from Germany will enable the expansion of current vaccination efforts to previously unreached populations”, Wisch added.

The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) is planning to distribute the vaccines from 19 December in 57 districts, mainly targeting children aged 12-18. Despite that, ongoing public health measures to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 will continue to be critical alongside vaccination. This includes adhering to testing and quarantine measures, mask wearing, hand hygiene, and physical distancing of at least two meters.

Worldwide, Germany will provide at least 175 million doses in total to emerging economies and developing countries, with most of these vaccines being made available through COVAX.

The pandemic can only be overcome if it is brought under control all over the world. Germany thus opted early on to focus on finding joint responses in a spirit of solidarity to the pandemic that continues to rage worldwide.

Last year, Germany helped found the coordination mechanism Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator), which is playing a valuable part in these efforts.

Its priorities are to ensure fair, transparent and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines, medicines and diagnostics around the globe and to strengthen healthcare systems in the future.

With contributions totalling 2.2 billion euro to date, Germany is currently the mechanism’s second-largest donor.

Most of this support is going to the international vaccine platform COVAX, which has already sent more than 600 million doses of vaccines to 144 states and territories.