Embarrassing seeing government begging for buying Covid vaccine
Embarrassing seeing government begging for buying Covid vaccine
I am wondering why our government is making the people nervous when it talks about its financial inability to buy required dozes of Covid 19 vaccine. Time and again, the government concerned officials are publicly saying that the government is requesting donor organizations to help it buying vaccines for its citizens. Is not it embarrassing?
Some of the donor communities have already pledged to provide financial support to the government for purchasing Covid 19 vaccines. However, it would still be much better for the government to do some homework to find out exactly how much money it really requires and then only urge business enterprises, philanthropic organisations and foreign aid agencies, if needed.
My conservative calculation comes to be around NRs 14 billion not NRs 48 billion as claimed by the government as per the following calculations. For this, I do not see any reasons for the government to be panicking.
Nepal’s
population is 30 million. Of which, around 20% or 6 million children are under
14 years who are not needed to be vaccinated because the available vaccines
have not been tested for the children. About 5 million people are in the gulf
regions and other foreign lands as migrant workers. Of the remaining 19
million, at-least 1 million people can afford to pay for the vaccines subject
to the government buys the vaccines from India which hardly costs about ICRs.
200/- for single dose equivalent NRs 360/-. For the remaining 18 million people,
it may costs around NRs.14 billion for double dose vaccine, definitely not NRs.48 billion
Considering the other vaccines, Covishield vaccine from India is most suitable for Nepal as it does not need to be worried about storing the vaccine. It can be transported and stored at cold temperatures, usually between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. Other vaccine may require -70 to -80 Celsius for refrigeration which cannot be afforded and maintained by Nepal.
The Kathmandu Post
The Covid-19 pandemic has hurt the economy and government revenue has taken a hit resulting in a resource crunch.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has, in the meantime, announced midterm elections which will require additional funds. But the government is struggling to generate resources to procure Covid-19 vaccines for Nepali citizens and is lobbying with donors for funds.
“We are generating the maximum amount required for purchasing coronavirus vaccines from multilateral and bilateral donors,” said Finance Secretary Sishir Dhungana.
Continue readinghttps://kathmandupost.com/national/2021/01/22/nepal-to-rely-mostly-on-foreign-aid-to-buy-covid-19-vaccines-for-its-people-officials-say
