Nepal To Destroy Over 4 Million Doses Of Sinovac Vaccines Procured From China In 2021

Kathmandu: Nepal has decided to destroy the vaccines that were bought from China during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. After 2.5 years, the country is all set to destroy the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines, which were bought from its neighbouring country. There are reports that the Himalayan country will destroy around four million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Nepal received four million doses of the Sinovac vaccines

The vaccine doses have been kept in the central storage of the Health Services Department ever since it was procured from China in April 2021. As per reports from Wion, Nepal received the four million doses of the Sinovac vaccines in two shipments. The first shipment was received on April 25, and the other shipment was received on April 27, 2021.

The storage of the vaccines is costing Nepal a huge amount

The storage of the vaccines is costing Nepal a huge amount, as the vaccines are being kept in cold storage. To get rid of the losses, the government has come to a conclusion to destroy the vaccines.

The vaccines are said to be inefficient

The vaccines are said to be inefficient to combat the spread of COVID-19. The people in the country preferred Moderna, Pfizer, and other vaccines over the Chinese vaccines. China is known for producing products of sub-standard quality. There are reports that the Nepal government tried to return the vaccines to China through diplomatic channels.

Beijing refused to take the vaccines back from Nepal

However, Beijing refused to take the vaccines back from Nepal. Nepal also tried to sell the vaccines to other countries, but was not able to sell the unreliable vaccines to other countries. Experts advised that the vaccine is unreliable and cannot be used as the first or the second dose. They also recommended that the vaccine cannot be used as a booster dose also.

Chinese government forced Nepal to procure Sinovac vaccines

After making all efforts to cut the losses that would be incurred due to destroying the vaccines, the Nepali government took the extreme step to destroy the vaccines. The rate at which the Nepal government procured the vaccines under the rule of former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is not ascertained.

He faced criticism from the people of Nepal for procuring the vaccines. There are also reports that the Chinese government forced Nepal to procure Sinovac vaccines from them.