<figure><img width="1499" height="602" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08c09c7e80680e0a6036jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Actor Michael Palin and Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.</figcaption></figure>British actor Michael Palin and Amnesty International on Wednesday called on the UK government to redistribute surplus Covid-19 vaccines to those most at risk in Nepal and other countries.
In Nepal, recovery from a deadly second wave in May has stalled with cases and fatalities rising again after the government relaxed lockdown rules last month, even while only less than 4% of the population was fully vaccinated.
In addition, more than 1.4 million Nepalis above 65 who received their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine in March and were due their second jab in early June, are still waiting for their jabs. 
“Having travelled in Nepal and met so many of their people, I am devastated that more than a million lives in Nepal are at risk," said British actor Michael Palin. "I am calling on the UK government to share its vaccine supply immediately with Nepal and other countries where those most at-risk have yet to have access to Covid-19 vaccines.”
Palin joined the <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA3143012021ENGLISH.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA3143012021ENGLISH.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627569910589000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEwYc7OIAEMZScyJbHsYs3U-gnjig">Amnesty International</a> call on the international community, particularly wealthier countries such as the UK, to urgently share unused vaccine doses and take other concrete measures to seriously tackle global vaccine inequality.
Expected supplies for the second dose did not reach Nepal due to India's ban on export of Covishield, and the global shortage of vaccines. Following an appeal to the international community, Japan has committed to fill this gap. 
The UK government on Thursday announced <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-begins-donating-millions-of-covid-19-vaccines-overseas" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">9 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine</a> to the global COVAX facility to be donated starting this week. The first countries to receive the consignment are Indonesia (600,000 doses), Kenya (817,000) and Jamaica (300,000). It is not yet known if Nepal is on the list.
But for now, vaccine or no vaccine, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/keep-wearing-masks-after-the-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mask and separation</a> is the best protection. 
Globally more than four million lives have now been lost, healthcare systems continue to crack under the pressure, and the light at the end of the tunnel is still out of sight for most of the world, especially where there is an acute shortage of vaccines.
Said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International: “The UK has already fully immunised more than 50% of its population in roughly six months. In contrast, Nepal has only been able to fully vaccinate 3.97% of its population and has not received deliveries as scheduled amid another deadly wave of infections."
She added: "These figures paint a stark picture of unforgivable inequality. Wealthy nations cannot simply keep turning a blind eye, as their neighbour’s house burns down. We aren’t talking in abstracts – we are talking about people’s rights to life."
She said that Japan's commitment to send 1.6million doses to Nepal within the next few weeks, while a welcome move, was "sadly only a band-aid, not a global solution".
Callamard added: "Sooner rather than later, leaders must realise that viruses don’t care about borders. We need bolder action from the international community, particularly wealthier states like the UK, the European Union, Canada and the United States who are sitting on unused doses, much of which may expire at any moment."
Nepal is one of many countries currently facing acute vaccine shortages. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627569910589000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGo1xtfJChYMwwhe4Lz6QKUd1VZcg">Palin had earlier joined l</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627569910589000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGo1xtfJChYMwwhe4Lz6QKUd1VZcg">eading figures</a>including Gurkha activist Joanna Lumley, mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington, Oxford vaccine researcher Andrew Pollard and others to send lifesaving oxygen equipment and medical supplies to Nepal during the peak in May when 250 Nepalis were dying every day from Covid-19.
The daily death rate in Nepal had come down to 15, but rose again on Friday to 33, with nearly 4,000 new confirmed cases in 24 hours. The active cases nationwide are now nearly 30,000 again with the lifting of the lockdown. 
On Tuesday, the health ministry in Kathmandu ordered all provincial hospitals to start stockpiling at least 1,000 cylinders of oxygen to prepare for what might be a second peak in the second wave.
Amnesty International quoted experts as saying that at the current pace of vaccinations, it will take <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/more-million-covid-deaths-4-months-g7-leaders-failed-break-vaccine-monopolies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/more-million-covid-deaths-4-months-g7-leaders-failed-break-vaccine-monopolies&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627569910589000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG1wPHJl5tLBgHktRtFYWf1qMugAw" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">57 years for all countries to be fully vaccinated</a> and the latest data shows that 85% of vaccine doses have been administered in richer countries, with only 0.3% in low-income countries. 
Countries such as the UK, which ordered enough doses to vaccinate its whole population three times over, must do their part to resolve global vaccine inequality now, Amnesty added.

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Renewed call on UK to rush vaccines to Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07f09c7e80680e0a5febjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>For the first time in weeks, Nepal recorded more than 3,000 new cases on 20 July. There were 25 deaths. The country is on the tail end of what has been a deadly second wave, but the rate of decline in infections and mortality has stalled.Public health officials blame it on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-covid-19-lockdown-relaxed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sudden reopening following two-months of lockdown</a> in which many mingled without masks, low vaccination rate, and minimal testing and tracing.While some experts say Nepal and India are now safe against another major surge of the Delta variant that was largely responsible for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the second wave</a>, others warn of a third wave if safety measures are not enforced.The Delta mutant is now ravaging Indonesia, and spreading across Europe and North America. And scientists say it has affected mostly countries and regions with low vaccination rates.“The third wave is a matter of when not if. And if we don’t vaccinate as many people as soon as possible, there will be a continued threat of more dangerous variants, and we will be repeating the whole cycle,” warns Buddha Bansyat, a physician at the Patan Academy of Health Sciences.So far, Nepal has fully vaccinated 1,158,130 people, 3.6% of its total population. Some 10% Nepalis have received the first dose of either AstraZeneca Covishield, Chinese Sinopharm VeroCell or <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/johnson-johnson-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">single-shot Johnson &amp; Johnson</a> jabs.Another 8 million doses of various Covid-19 vaccines are expected by September – some purchased from China, more doses from COVAX, as well as a direct grant from Japan. This should take the total fully vaccinated population near 20%, which together with antigen positive population could cushion the impact of a possible third wave.“We have now moved on from vaccinating <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/spared-at-first-elderly-hit-hard-by-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the elderly</a> and frontline workers to groups less at risk of the Covid-19, and we have more vaccines in the  pipeline,” says Shyam Raj Uprety, head of government's Covid Vaccine Strategy. “We have applied to buy 10.5 million more doses of vaccines from the COVAX at a subsidised rate.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07f39c7e80680e0a5fecjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="448" height="537"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Indian public health experts have projected the third wave to hit that country in late August. What happens in India usually follows in Nepal within 12-13 days, and if that is true this time too, Nepal cannot be  unprepared like in March.“If the vaccination program progresses as smoothly as it is happening now compared to the first two surges, the third wave might not be as significant if it happens at all. By Dasain, a significant chunk of Nepalis should have been vaccinated,” explains Sameer Dixit of Centre for Molecular Dynamics Nepal.Apart from vaccines, in case of a sudden surge, hospitals need to be ready with sufficient beds and ICUs, oxygen, life-saving medical equipment, drugs and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">functioning oxygen plants</a>. Hospitals must also prepare their paediatric wards since the third wave could affect a younger population.Since the peak of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/we-knew-the-tsunami-was-approaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">second wave</a> when there were close to 10,000 new cases a day and over 200 daily fatalities, international donors have been supplying essential medical equipment to Nepal.The Health Ministry received 385 ventilators and 970 oxygen concentrators in May June from various donors. District hospitals at local levels have also received direct supplies from aid agencies. These should be in running  condition and on standby instead of being stockpiled in Kathmandu, say doctors interviewed for this report.With the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-start-trickling-into-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vaccine supply chain less constrained</a>, there is now a debate about reprioritising the doses and a more strategic distribution of supply. Some experts have suggested a ‘firewall strategy’ wherein densely populated cities are fully vaccinated to reduce transmission, and to revive  the economy that will in turn restore jobs.Equitable vaccination is ideal, but in epidemiological terms inoculating a thinly-spread population is not the best use of limited doses. Inoculating  younger adults mean they are less likely to carry the virus and transmit it to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">children</a>, the largely unvaccinated group. Even within cities, the focus must be on the urban poor in congested areas.“Moving forward, we must now prioritise crowded cities and highly mobile groups for vaccination to help blunt the effect of another wave and save as many lives as possible,” says Sher Bahadur Pun, a virologist at Teku Hospital.However, epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa worries that focusing in cities may mean the underserved are neglected. “While reprioritising, our strategy should be such that the supply isn’t misused and the neediest aren’t missed out.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07f59c7e80680e0a5fedjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1366"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>At present VeroCell and J&amp;J vaccination drives are running in parallel across Nepal. Soon, the Japanese grant of 1.4 million <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/despite-doubts-nepal-sticks-with-astrazeneca-jabs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AstraZeneca</a> will be used to inoculate the elderly who have been waiting for four months for their second doses.Social media is rife with speculation about the jabs and who should and shouldn’t get it, leading to widespread confusion and vaccine hesitancy. People are also comparing the efficacy level of one vaccine against the other.“Let’s take any vaccine available, they do what they are supposed to do, prevent deaths and hospitalisations in most cases,” says Buddha Basnyat.  “I encourage people with heart conditions, cancer and liver diseases to vaccinate, they are high-risk group, as well as pregnant women.”According to Public Health England, Covid-19 vaccines have so far  prevented 13,200 deaths and 39,700 hospitalisations in the United  Kingdom, even while the country sees a surge in Delta variant cases.As Nepalis inoculate against SARS-CoV-2, people are starting to forgo <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/staying-safe-in-2021-and-beyond/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">safety measures</a> even if the majority of the population remains unvaccinated. They are back on the streets taking part in political rallies and conducting crowded indoor meetings. Jam-packed and poorly- managed vaccination centres could themselves be super spreaders.Says Sameer Dixit: “In midst of vaccines, variants and new surges, we cannot forget masks and physical distancing, it is still our first line of  defence against the coronavirus.”

Sonia Awale

Vaccines, variants and a third wave

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07d99c7e80680e0a5fe2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1366"/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>The world is at a tipping point in the battle to contain the spread of Covid-19. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hope-hyperbole-and-hypocrisy-of-covax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Countries across Asia are struggling to access vaccines</a> while tens of thousands are dying from the disease. Richer countries are sitting on enough doses to vaccinate their populations many times over.Sharing vaccine doses right now is our best shot if we are to prevent further catastrophe in Asia.Recently the G20 countries with 80% of the world's wealth held a global health summit and called for <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/e006598.full_.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sharing of vaccines and production technology</a> between nations.Pharmaceutical companies made commitments to sell cut-price vaccines to lower income countries. Some companies and countries have offered intellectual property waivers or sharing of technologies on Covid-19 vaccines. The United States and Europe offered to share more vaccines and the raw materials for manufacturing. These are all positive moves. Formany parts of Asia, the burning issue now is speed.Countries with vaccine stockpiles need to sell or share their millions of excess doses either directly or via the <a href="https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/covax">global COVAX facility</a> to help save lives in countries experiencing record death rates. And they need to do so as quickly as possible.We only need to look at Britain and the United States to see how mass vaccination can help contain the disease. In the United Kingdom, Covid-19 vaccines have so far <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-vaccine-surveillance-report-published/">prevented 13,200 deaths and 39,700 hospitalisations</a> according to Public Health England. In the race against new waves, new variants, and new tragedies, we need such good news at a global level too.<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases">Eight of the 10 countries</a> in the world that are seeing infections double the fastest are in Asia and the Pacific. Many of these countries, such as Fiji and Timor Leste have low vaccination rates and fragile health systems.Many countries in Asia, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal are down to their last doses, forcing authorities to suspend or scale down their vaccine rollouts. Just 3% of people in India and less than 1% in the Philippines <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations">have been fully vaccinated</a>, according to Oxford University's Our World in Data.A majority of Asian and other lower income nations simply cannot compete with richer countries in the race to buy vaccines. Pakistan has ordered enough doses to inoculate only 3% of its population, while the European Union has enough to vaccinate its population 3.5 times over, according to Duke Global Health Innovation Center.It's not just about purchasing power. It's also about the resources needed to distribute and vaccinate. Britain is vaccinating people 13 times faster than Nepal, while the United States is administering more than 2.5 times as many doses per day as India for every 100 people.Even with limited supplies, countries across Asia are rushing to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-too-little-too-late-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vaccinate as many people as possible</a>. Every day, millions of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-those-who-protect-us-from-covid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">frontline health workers</a>, including Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers, are risking their own safety to provide lifesaving medical treatment and immunisations. These staff and volunteers needed to be vaccinated as a priority so they can make other people safe. Many critical workers have still not received even a first dose.I am writing this from Malaysia, which has one of the highest Covid-19 infection rates in the world. Intensive care units and hospitals in many countries around Asia are full. Judging from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/we-knew-the-tsunami-was-approaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">what we've seen in India and Nepal</a>, demand for oxygen will outweigh supply in countries across the continent and many people will die, people who wouldn't die if they were vaccinated.The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is supporting the vaccine roll out, working with health authorities to run vaccination centres, keeping people safe with clean water, soap and hygiene, and delivering <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">oxygen supplies</a>. It all helps but is a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed to contain Covid-19.The only solution is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/no-country-is-safe-until-we-are-all-safe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">immediate vaccination</a> to scale at record rates. Scaling up production and sharing intellectual property rights will both make a huge difference in the medium term. In the short term, sharing surplus vaccine doses is one of the fastest ways to save lives. If there ever was a global imperative for the world to act in solidarity, it is now.Alexander Matheou is Asia Pacific Director at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Global solidarity needs intensive care in pandemic battle

<figure><img width="2048" height="1364" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d05fb9c7e80680e0a5f3ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>There is breaking news every other day: the United States donates 2 million Moderna shots to Bangladesh and Pakistan. Denmark announces 250,000 AstraZeneca doses to Bhutan. Japan pledges surplus AZ vaccines to Sri Lanka and the Pacific Islands.Nepal is never in the news, even though <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lonely-wait-of-nepals-elderly-for-2nd-doses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1.4 million people still wait for their second doses</a> of Covishield AZ vaccines and another 20 million people need to be inoculated before a possible third wave this year. So far, Nepal has only been gifted or bought vaccines from India, China or the COVAX initiative. It has not even got 1 million vaccines from Serum Institute India that it paid for, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/no-vax-ask-for-mask/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">all other promises from western countries were never kept</a>.  Nepal’s vaccine diplomacy has failed miserably. And the only silver lining is that there are four million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm VeroCell starting next week to immediately inoculate its above 55 population.Nepal is still recording an excess of 2,000 new cases a day and is seeing a slight daily increase following the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-covid-19-lockdown-relaxed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relaxation in travel restrictions</a>. Everyone, the public and the government, seem to have forgotten that the real peak during the first wave last year took place only after the lockdown was eased.“The third wave is already on its way, our figures are going up and we must assume we will be hit by new variants,” says Buddha Basnyat, a physician at Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS). “We must vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible, if not we will get more difficult variants that are potentially resistant to the vaccines.”In other news, the Oxford Vaccine Group which developed the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine has found that administering two doses 44-45 weeks produced the highest antibody boost. This news, announced by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/im-sad-vaccines-are-delayed-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Andrew Pollard</a>, one of the developers of the AZ, is glad tidings for countries like Nepal where people above 65 are waiting for their second doses.Pollard said antibody levels remained elevated for close to a year with <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/ten-month-gap-between-astrazeneca-doses-sees-highest-antibody-boost-oxford-study/article35019890.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a ten-month gap between AZ doses</a>, as well as antibody levels twice that after the second dose among volunteers who were administered a third booster dose, pointing to a long-term, possibly life long immunity, also against variants.“This is great news for the elderly, many of whom are panicking, unable to get their second dose in the recommended time frame. The additional time the study has afforded us shouldn’t lead to complacency in our effort to procure vaccines,” says Sher Bahadur Pun, an epidemiologist at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital. <figure><img width="950" height="633" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d05fe9c7e80680e0a5f3bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Norway, Czech Republic and Denmark have unused AZ shots they want to donate to Nepal, but have been forced to go through <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hope-hyperbole-and-hypocrisy-of-covax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COVAX, which is unlikely to deliver</a> the doses before the end of 2021.On 1 July, Denmark announced that it would donate 250,000 vaccines to Bhutan. However, it is understood that these grants still need to be facilitated by the EU. Also in the news this week is the result of a new modelling study published in the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s medical journal Eurosurveillance that further strengthens the link between <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/despite-doubts-nepal-sticks-with-astrazeneca-jabs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AZ vaccines and a rare blood clot</a>.The study models four months of a vaccine distribution strategy in France from May 2021 and concludes that using AZ on the entire adult population would avert 10 deaths from Covid among 18-39-year-olds. However, it would be associated with 21 deaths from blood clots in the same age group over the same time period. In other words, <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40328123.html?type=amp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">clot risk to younger people from the AZ vaccine</a> is twice as high as Covid death risk. But public health experts in Nepal maintain that the benefit of mass vaccination still far outweighs the risk. “Similar studies in the context of the South Asian population are needed but as it is, transmission risk of Covid is much higher than the individual risk of blood clots here,” says epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa.Buddha Basnyat of PAHS concurs: “The UK with over half of its population fully vaccinated is now being hit by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covids-regional-threat-needs-regional-response/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">delta variant</a>, although it has been largely spared from severity due to the mass inoculation. Nepal being mostly unvaccinated is unprotected both from transmission and severity. This should show us where our priority should lie.”The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control finding about clot risk therefore could indirectly be a blessing in disguise for countries like Nepal by further freeing up AZ stockpiles in Europe, as well as Korea and Japan.Even so, blood clot risk has prompted leaders including Germany’s Angela Markel to opt for Moderna as a booster shot to her first dose of AZ jab.Several EU nations including Germany have said mix-and-match doses are safe for Covid prevention, which according to new findings also point to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57636356" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a better immune response</a>. This could also offer much-needed flexibility when vaccine supplies are uneven or limited.“We need to introduce mixing and matching also in Nepal in the face of more virulent delta variants, particularly for the elderly who are at the higher risk of developing severity from an infection, instead of waiting endlessly for Covishield,” says Basnyat.At a time when Nepal is yet to recover from a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">devastating second surge</a>, only an equitable vaccination strategy will prevent an even more deadly third wave. But a mere 2.6% of Nepal’s population has been fully vaccinated, and less than 9% has received a single dose of either Covishield or VeroCell shots.  <figure><img width="1594" height="898" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06009c7e80680e0a5f3cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>And even the doses are unevenly distributed within the country. More than half the first dose of VeroCell was distributed in Bagmati province, according to the government’s own figures. Moreover, 97% of the booster jabs of VeroCell were used only in Bagmati Province. “We are seeing a similar kind of disparity in vaccination that we saw in testing, concentrated in urban centres and in particular Kathmandu,” notes epidemiologist Lhamo Yanghen Sherpa. “The excuse for using most of the doses in Kathmandu is that people elsewhere refused to inoculate. If that’s the case what is the government and others doing to dispel vaccine myths?” Virologist Sher Bahadur Pun says the government should immediately deploy its 60,000 or so <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/enlisting-female-health-volunteers-to-fight-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">female community volunteers</a> and healthcare workers who have historically done such effective work in non-Covid childhood vaccination drives.He adds, “They are spread across the country and are best placed to communicate the significance of vaccines and increase vaccination uptakes at  local levels.”

Vaccines too little, too late for Nepal?

<figure><img width="722" height="482" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111152/636b86609c7e80680e06784ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>The flood of social media posts of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/aid-pours-into-nepal-but-where-be-vaccines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/aid-pours-into-nepal-but-where-be-vaccines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFw4HGIaJzWsPjE6KDbOCN9BO71nA">donated medical supplies</a> being unloaded at Kathmandu airport every day, gives the impression that the outside world cares more about the humanitarian emergency in Nepal than the country’s own leaders.
This week proved that the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-sets-elections-in-middle-of-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-sets-elections-in-middle-of-pandemic/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGnYd3WYcqcWZhTuAO1fDLmr6DWrw">Nepali politicians still do not get it</a>. Except for the chatting classes locked up at home, not many Nepalis follow, or care, about a dissolved Parliament, elections in November, or writs at the Supreme Court. They are preoccupied with trying to prevent relatives from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0TkkaP2byuZ7gTldxbjVgjSti9w">breathing their last</a>.
Prime Minister K P Oli has proven that he is not just a shrewd manipulator, but also has elastic ethics. In the past year, he has shown that he will stop at nothing: split the NCP that he himself united, dismantle his own UML, dissolve a Parliament in which he had a two-thirds majority. All is fair, it seems, in love and politics. 
Nepalis might have followed the political games in Kathmandu more closely if the alternatives to Oli inspired more confidence. But they are all tried, tested and failed ex-prime ministers themselves. The main contender Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress lined himself up to be PM for the fifth time, and has still not given up.
The crises due to the pandemic would have been the opportunity to form a national unity government, and work together to fight the virus. This would be the time for all the parties to skip a generation and bring up some young do-ers. That is what they may have done if this was a war. But <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEWgT9G992ZUlwbDLKjh5yVL3iW-A">this is a war</a>.
The needs are great: ensuring <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/its-an-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/its-an-emergency/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEbjbLTsFcBFUFjyD0KkohRt6dD0w">adequate oxygen supply</a>, rushing relief for the millions who have lost their income during the lockdowns, ensuring that ICU care is available and affordable to the general public, and negotiating a reliable vaccine pipeline. Preoccupied with politicking, the leaders had little time for any of this. 
Most of Nepal’s politically-appointed ambassadors overseas are more beholden to their patrons back home than to the people. With the exceptions of our female envoys in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqcfVevxxV6taMreBzCHkR2W-pNw">Oman and Spain</a>, other missions have not stepped up to the task of conveying the emergency like we did after the 2015 earthquake.
The oxygen cylinders and medical equipment that have arrived are mostly through donations from the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqcfVevxxV6taMreBzCHkR2W-pNw">Nepali diaspora</a>, citizens groups that have mobilised through social media, and friends of Nepal. 
No wonder the rest of the world does not take us seriously. When a state does not demonstrate accountability towards its own citizens, there is little trust even from governments that genuinely want to help, to provide urgently needed material. 
And there is not much the outside world can do when the malaise is within. Nepal has to resolve its own governance crisis that has messed up its Covid-19 response. 
Having said that, the international community could show more concern for the urgent need for vaccines. There are many flights bearing ventilators, concentrators, PPEs and test kits, but much vacillation on vaccines. 
Nepal is not getting the urgent help it needs to immediately vaccinate 1.4 million people whose default date for the second dose is now. On Monday, the government extended the dose gap to 16 weeks in the hope that someone somewhere will quickly send the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/despite-doubts-nepal-sticks-with-astrazeneca-jabs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/despite-doubts-nepal-sticks-with-astrazeneca-jabs/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG_KLW5M52MZ3Y7ijjHYNDTM3xYdQ">AstraZeneca (AZ)</a> vaccines we paid the Serum Institute of India for, but which were never delivered.
This is a major <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-is-a-priority-for-vaccine-shipments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-is-a-priority-for-vaccine-shipments/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGmt0XUUHhxlq6n1BtsGFdw3YfM_w">failure of Nepal’s vaccine diplomacy</a>, but it is also India, Britain, the EU, US, the WHO that have let us down in this hour of need. We get it that vaccines are now a geo-strategic item, and countries are stockpiling it for the third wave. But some countries have enough doses to vaccinate their populations several times over, at a time when their own citizens are refusing to take AZ because of the panic over clots. 
Across France, AZ vaccines are being dumped because they are nearing expiry, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-urgent-american-vaccine-support/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-urgent-american-vaccine-support/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHGyEJVpvRxkfBu00MFW-UbFzLJxQ">United States has a cache</a> of 80 million Covid-19 vaccines, and nearly half its population refuses to be vaccinated. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622019280162000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF0Zuj2D_3iMclB9cP3qSBYR8nxPQ">Ship the shots </a>to people who want and need the vaccines.
We would like to see fewer Tweets of donated items that Nepal can afford to buy, and more timetables for vaccine deliveries.

Vacillating on vaccines

<figure><img width="1236" height="856" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85a09c7e80680e067804jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure><h2>1. Oxygen</h2> To save lives, Nepal’s most urgent need now is oxygen. Not just cylinders, but oxygen generators, concentrators and liquid oxygen. Most infected people are not succumbing to Covid-19, they are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/helping-nepalis-breathe-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dying because of low oxygen saturation</a> in the blood, and lack of hospital beds -- patients who need not have died of coronavirus. Dire as the situation is in the cities, Nepal’s pandemic has now <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepals-humanitarian-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">infiltrated the remotest villages</a> where there is no hospital care and no oxygen. The virus is preying on people already suffering malnutrition, previous ailments, and decades of structural state neglect. In Rolpa, Humla and other remote districts, between 80-90% of PCR tests are coming back positive, and it takes a week to get results. Patients are either not isolating, or not following precautions.Kathmandu's doctor-to-patient ratio is 1:850, but in rural Nepal it is one doctor for every 15,000 people, and hospitals and medical staff there <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/at-the-covid-19-frontlines-in-rural-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">are already overstretched</a>.Close to 60% of all swabs collected nationwide are from Bagmati Province, with nearly half of them in Kathmandu Valley, says epidemiologist Lhamu Yangchen Sherpa. She adds: “There just aren’t enough tests and contact tracing is minimal, official total cases and fatalities are grossly underestimated.” <figure><img width="1497" height="746" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85a39c7e80680e067805jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="984" height="519" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85a69c7e80680e067806jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Hospitals in Kathmandu Valley with roof helipads have multiple daily rescue flights, but even these facilities are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/we-knew-the-tsunami-was-approaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">at breaking point</a> with patients being turned away. Understaffed and under-equipped hospitals in the districts do not stand a chance. Even where hospitals exist, many families avoid them for fear of being infected and take wrong medication from pharmacies.Case in point are recent deaths due to misdiagnosis across the country. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-shot-in-the-arm-for-vaccines-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Typhoid disease</a> simulates Covid-19 with similar symptoms, and the widespread Widal test is known to give false positives.“Covid patients are being prescribed antibiotics to fight typhoid, only to turn critically ill in a few days’ time,” says Buddha Basnyat of Patan Academy of Health Sciences. “This is the reason behind some of the latest Covid fatalities.” <figure><img width="1280" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85a89c7e80680e067807jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>As in India, Nepal is beginning to see a slight bending of the curve for new infections, but health experts expect the fatality rate to remain high for some more time.  There were 190 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours and 6,543 recoveries. Of the total 8,305 new cases on Thursday, Kathmandu Valley accounts for 3,232 infections. 7,814 people are undergoing treatment in hospitals with 1,748 in ICU and 492 in ventilator support. “After the relentless patient pressure of the past month, we have seen a decline in those requiring admissions,” says virologist at Teku hospital Sher Bahadur Pun. “The virus has now infected a majority of people in the cities, and this combined with the lockdown means we may be getting to the halfway mark of the second wave.” <h2>2. Vaccines</h2> A prolonged lockdown is not the answer. If it was, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-numbers-slightly-down-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reduction in the number of cases and the positivity rate</a> this week would have been steeper. Even while the government tries to increase oxygen supply to hospitals, the only long-term strategy is to vaccinate at least 70% of Nepal’s eligible population.Doctors report a marked difference between the recovery of people who are vaccinated against those who are not. Says virologist Pun at Teku Hospital: “Except for a few rare cases, all patients in critical condition and those dying are the ones who for one reason or another had not been vaccinated.”But Nepal has run out of its vaccine stock, leaving 1.4 million people still waiting for their second dose of AstraZeneca Covishield in a lurch, after India banned its export, and the COVAX Facility could not supply its remaining 1.8 million vaccines to Nepal because of the global supply bottleneck.  <figure><img width="1440" height="1080" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85ac9c7e80680e067808jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Nepal government and pressure groups in Nepal and the United States <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-urgent-american-vaccine-support/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">have strongly urged the Biden administration</a> to immediately rush some of its AstraZeneca doses to Nepal.Meanwhile, the UK, the US and Canada have authorised vaccines for use in children and adolescents, sparking outrage in the global public health community for prioritising an age group that is rarely critically affected by Covid-19. The World Health Organisation’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged rich countries to instead donate doses to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/unicef-urges-g7-to-dispatch-vaccines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COVAX Facility</a> for poorer states that have barely covered health workers and the most vulnerable groups. Speaking at the British Parliament last week, noted vaccinologist and the principal researcher of Oxford University’s AstraZeneca vaccine, Andrew Pollard, called the decision to inoculate children in wealthy nations ahead of high-risk groups in poorer countries “morally wrong.” Pollard has worked extensively in the region, leading research into the burden and transmission of typhoid in Nepal, Bangladesh and Malawi, and the impact of typhoid vaccine in these areas. He also runs surveillance for invasive bacterial diseases, and studies the impact of pneumococcal vaccines in children in Nepal.In Nepal, vaccination will grind to a halt this week after the current campaign to inoculate 300,000 people in the 18-59 age group with their second dose of the Chinese VeroCell ends.  <figure><img width="960" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85af9c7e80680e067809jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img width="960" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85b29c7e80680e06780ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="960" height="639" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85b49c7e80680e06780bjpeg.jpg" alt="">Although <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-is-a-priority-for-vaccine-shipments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali says</a> the government is in “final negotiations” for 2 million doses of Sinopharm VeroCell vaccines by June, there is no movement at the Ministry of Health. Ongoing talks to procure 8 million doses of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/vaccine-geo-politics-and-sputnik-v/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Sputnik V</a> have hit a production capacity snag in Russia. “We can implement lockdowns only for so long, the only exit strategy is vaccines. Science delivered, now our politicians must do the same,” says Buddha Basnyat, a physical at the Patan Academy of Health Sciences. “The Nepal government must procure vaccines using every diplomatic channel possible, and rich countries must realise that they are not safe until countries like Nepal are also vaccinated.” Activists have been trying to convince <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leading-public-figures-call-on-uk-government-for-oxygen-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the US government and Europeans</a> that Nepal has a lot of experience in successful vaccination campaigns against polio, smallpox, measles. It has over 50,000 female community health volunteers (FCHVs) reaching children with vaccines every year.  <figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85b79c7e80680e06780cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img width="2048" height="943" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85ba9c7e80680e06780djpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1920" height="864" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111148/636b85bd9c7e80680e06780ejpeg.jpg" alt="">Similarly, Nepal’s health system has amassed vast experience in maintaining the vaccine cold chain even in the remote mountains. It also has trained human resource overseeing DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy, Short-course) for tuberculosis management all over the country who can lend a hand in equitable distribution of vaccines in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rural-nepal-fights-back-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rural Nepal</a>.Says epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa: “It’s not too late, we can still use existing resources like FCHVs to better mobilise vaccination, conduct contact tracing, dispel any remaining vaccine hesitancy, and use public health professionals in prevention.”

It’s an Emergency

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111144/636b84ec9c7e80680e0677c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="658"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Covid-19 crisis has figured in a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, where members heard USAID officials, and urged a more urgent response.Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he was concerned that the situation in Nepal was even more serious, after India stopped the export of vaccines.Meanwhile the first US legislator of Nepali-origin Harry Bhandari from Maryland has started a signature campaign calling on President Joe Biden to rush urgent medical aid to Nepal.Responding to the queries from senators at the hearing, Jeremy Konyndyk of USAID admitted the situation in Nepal was serious, that the high positivity rate meant there was an urgent need for more testing.Last week, the group <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621001079983000&amp;usg=AFQjCNExp09ZvwY7OX2ArKmLNmcLJlnyLw">The Covid Alliance for Nepal</a> wrote to the US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry to urge him to help secure the AstraZeneca vaccine from the US stockpile. Nearly 1.3 million people in Nepal who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine are waiting for the second dose, amidst uncertainty after India banned its export.Meanwhile, US Indo-Pacific Command announced on Thursday that it is giving Nepal $2.85 million to acquire oxygen plants, cylinders and storage tanks, as well as PPE, isolation centre equipment and other gear. USAID also announced that it had given various agencies of the Nepal government nearly $51 million to fight the pandemic.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111144/636b84ef9c7e80680e0677c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1176" height="1080">Also on Thursday, deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokhrel called US Ambassador Berry asking for urgent help with AstraZeneca vaccines. Pokhrel said Berry had assured him that he was also urging Washington about the need for vaccines, and that he would keep the Nepal government informed.In return Berry also requested Pokhrel, who heads the Covid-19 Control and Management Committee (CCMC) to restore two flights a week from Kathmandu to evacuate its nationals stuck in Nepal to return to the United States. All international and domestic flights in Nepal have been grounded till 31 May, and the lockdown in Kathmandu has been extended till 27 May.In a separate development, the European Union is also extending €2 million in humanitarian funding to Nepal that will be used to monitor home isolated cases through tele-medicine services and rapid referral to hospitals, national emergency medical teams deployment and international emergency medical teams mobilisation facilitation as well as procurement of oxygen equipment including oxygen concentrators, cylinders, home care kits, diagnostics including antigen test kits and PPE.Nepal has also activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, and Finland is the first member to offer more than 2 million surgical masks, 350,000 FFP2 masks, 52,500 pairs of vinyl gloves and 30,000 isolation gowns."We stand in full solidarity with Nepal in its fight against the pandemic and are quickly mobilising emergency support with initial €2 million funding, and we stand ready to provide further assistance,”  said EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič.

International help for Nepal picks up

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131120/636ced0a9c7e80680e09ad9fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="658"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Covid-19 crisis has figured in a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, where members heard USAID officials, and urged a more urgent response.Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he was concerned that the situation in Nepal was even more serious, after India stopped the export of vaccines.Meanwhile the first US legislator of Nepali-origin Harry Bhandari from Maryland has started a signature campaign calling on President Joe Biden to rush urgent medical aid to Nepal.Responding to the queries from senators at the hearing, Jeremy Konyndyk of USAID admitted the situation in Nepal was serious, that the high positivity rate meant there was an urgent need for more testing.Last week, the group <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621001079983000&amp;usg=AFQjCNExp09ZvwY7OX2ArKmLNmcLJlnyLw">The Covid Alliance for Nepal</a> wrote to the US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry to urge him to help secure the AstraZeneca vaccine from the US stockpile. Nearly 1.3 million people in Nepal who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine are waiting for the second dose, amidst uncertainty after India banned its export.Meanwhile, US Indo-Pacific Command announced on Thursday that it is giving Nepal $2.85 million to acquire oxygen plants, cylinders and storage tanks, as well as PPE, isolation centre equipment and other gear. USAID also announced that it had given various agencies of the Nepal government nearly $51 million to fight the pandemic.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131120/636ced0e9c7e80680e09ada0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1176" height="1080">Also on Thursday, deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokhrel called US Ambassador Berry asking for urgent help with AstraZeneca vaccines. Pokhrel said Berry had assured him that he was also urging Washington about the need for vaccines, and that he would keep the Nepal government informed.In return Berry also requested Pokhrel, who heads the Covid-19 Control and Management Committee (CCMC) to restore two flights a week from Kathmandu to evacuate its nationals stuck in Nepal to return to the United States. All international and domestic flights in Nepal have been grounded till 31 May, and the lockdown in Kathmandu has been extended till 27 May.In a separate development, the European Union is also extending €2 million in humanitarian funding to Nepal that will be used to monitor home isolated cases through tele-medicine services and rapid referral to hospitals, national emergency medical teams deployment and international emergency medical teams mobilisation facilitation as well as procurement of oxygen equipment including oxygen concentrators, cylinders, home care kits, diagnostics including antigen test kits and PPE.Nepal has also activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, and Finland is the first member to offer more than 2 million surgical masks, 350,000 FFP2 masks, 52,500 pairs of vinyl gloves and 30,000 isolation gowns."We stand in full solidarity with Nepal in its fight against the pandemic and are quickly mobilising emergency support with initial €2 million funding, and we stand ready to provide further assistance,”  said EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič.

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3b99c7e80680e09666ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Reservoir pond of the Pharping hydropower project 12 km south of Kathmandu Valley. Photo: ASMIT RAJBHANDARI</figcaption></figure>It was 6:30pm on 22 May 1911, and the sun had just set in Kathmandu when King Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah arrived at Tundikhel to turn on a switch to light Nepal’s first electric lamp.Nepal was the second country in Asia to install a hydroelectric power plant, commissioned by Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher Rana, who named the project after himself: Chandra Jyoti. Chandra Shumshere had visited England eight years previously, and this was part of his grand plan to modernise Nepal with technology.Besides electricity, he established Nepal’s first college, built metal suspension bridges all over the country, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-walk-back-in-time-chandragiri-hatiban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">commissioned a cargo ropeway from Kathmandu to the Tarai</a>. He sent architects to Europe, and engineers and horticulturists for training to Japan. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3bc9c7e80680e09666fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3bf9c7e80680e096670jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3c39c7e80680e096671jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3c69c7e80680e096672jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Construction of the 500kW plant in Pharping 12km south of Kathmandu began in 1907 with British engineers, and took four years to complete. All the turbines and penstock pipes were shipped to Calcutta, brought overland to Bhimphedi and then had to be carried on porter back over the mountains to the site.Built to light <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/inside-story-of-nepals-rana-dynasty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the palaces of the Ranas</a>, homes of courtiers and some street lights, the power station stored water from two springs, in Satmule and Sesh Narayan, in a circular reservoir. The Ranas first tested the electricity in a house in Khokana before connecting the wires tot their palaces, to ensure it was safe.Under supervision of the prime minister’s clan, the power plant was built by Tilkikram and Bakhat Bahadur from the Nepal Army, the main engineer for the power house was Kishore Narsingh Rana. Two engineers from England, ‘Barnau Puwante’ and a certain ‘Mr Linzale’, were also involved in the construction. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3c99c7e80680e096673jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3cc9c7e80680e096674jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3cf9c7e80680e096675jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3d29c7e80680e096676jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In 1911, it had been only three decades since the world’s first hydropower plant had been installed on the Fox River in Wisconsin in 1882, and a year after China built its first hydropower plant in 1912 in Yunnan province.Despite this early start, Nepal got around to setting up its second hydropower project only 28 years later, a 640kW plant in Sundarijal in 1939. For a country with such a vast potential for hydropower, it would take Nepal another half-century to produce just 1MW of electricity.Since 1911 when Pharping was built, Nepal has managed to produce only 1,400MW of power from its rivers, not even 2% of its total potential. Since most of the plants are of the run-of-the-river type, electricity production fluctuates with water level on rivers. This spring, due to a long winter drought, for instance, Nepal is importing nearly half its peak hour demand <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/more-than-half-of-nepals-electricity-imported-from-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">from thermal power plants India</a>.Sadly, the history of Nepal’s oldest hydropower plant has now been almost forgotten. Although the government declared the power plant a ‘living heritage’ site in 1911, not much has been done to preserve the area. The power plant could be brought back into running condition, even as just a demonstration unit. <figure><img width="3000" height="2000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3d59c7e80680e096677jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3d99c7e80680e096678jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3dc9c7e80680e096679jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The power house, the royal guest house and other buildings here are part of Nepal’s heritage, but are crumbling. Two 250kw generators have great historical significance, but are not properly preserved, metal pipes more than 100 years old lie rusting near the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/storing-water-reservoir-Nepal,1042" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reservoir</a>.For most of its functioning life, Pharping generated power for only three hours every night. Later, even when the reservoir started being used to supply drinking water to Lalitpur, it was generating electricity for one hour every evening.There is a masterplan to preserve Pharping as a Live Energy Museum with the old building renovated to house a centre for hydropower development, as well as research into <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-energy-windfall-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">renewable energy sources like solar and wind</a>.None of that has taken off, but 22 May is still marked as National Energy Day to pay homage to Nepal’s hydropower potential.This story was first published on <a href="https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1617686418226000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEYgYjTYeKkemPKVPByKGEFPQOeiQ">The Third Pole</a>.

Nepal’s 1st hydroelectric plant is a museum piece

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8cf9c7e80680e092e62jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2731"/><figcaption>A health worker in Jumla administers Covidshield AstraZeneca vaccine to an elderly this week. Photo: LAXMI NGAKHUSI/UNICEF NEPAL</figcaption></figure>Over 1.6 million Nepalis have so far been inoculated against the coronavirus, all of them with the AstraZeneca vaccine that several <a href="http://‘The damage is done’: Europe’s caution over AstraZeneca vaccine could have far-reaching consequences" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">European countries have suspended</a> because of fears of blood clots.With a turnout of 65% of frontline workers, vulnerable groups and people over the age of 65, Nepal has completed the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-fights-infodemic-to-push-vaccine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">second phase of its Covid-19 vaccination</a> rollout with the Covishield vaccine either donated or bought from the Serum Insitute of India.“We have managed to protect the groups most vulnerable to Covid-19 from the possible second wave,” Shyam Raj Upreti, head of the Government Covid Vaccine Strategy told Nepali Times. “The fact that there have been no serious side effects has increased the acceptance level of the vaccine among the masses and health practitioners themselves.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/its-not-over-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">It's not over yet</a>, EditorialHowever, reports of some EU nations, Thailand and other countries suspending the use of the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine because of serious blood clots among some recipients may result in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/why-is-there-vaccine-hesitancy-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vaccine hesitancy</a> among the remaining population. Covishield is the brand name of the Indian-made version of AstraZeneca.Germany, France, Italy and Spain suspended the vaccine program , following in the footsteps of by Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Latvia discontinuing the vaccine earlier this week. Austria has temporarily paused the use of certain batches. Thailand is the first country in Asian nation to halt AstraZeneca shots.The <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/16/europe/who-astrazeneca-europe-coronavirus-tuesday-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">suspensions have baffled public health experts</a> who warn that there is neither enough data to justify the decision, nor evidence to blame the blood clots on the vaccine. It is especially worrisome because some European countries suffering their third wave of Covid-19 desperately need the vaccines.“To date, the vaccine has been safe in this part of the world, so its benefits far outweigh the risk,” said epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa, while cautioning that serious side effects should be monitored and their underlying causes studied.The suspensions in Europe, however, may be a blessing in disguise for countries like Nepal which have faced delays in shipments of AstraZeneca from India because of the rise in global demand. The price of the 2.2 million doses that Nepal had ordered from the Serum Institute also went up to $5 because of the shortage. It bought the first lot for $4 per dose.Nepal has approved two coronavirus vaccines for emergency use, Covishield AstraZeneca and China’s Sinopharm. So far, the government has only administered Covidshield and Nepali experts see no reason to discontinue the vaccine without a real causal link between AstraZeneca and the blood clots.With only about 600,000 doses in stock, Nepal needs to procure another 1.5 million shots if it wants to provide second doses starting from 20 April for those who inoculated in the first and second phases. Vaccine availability will also determine when the third phase aimed at people in the age group 55-64 age group will begin.“There is every likelihood that politics is involved in this decision to suspend AstraZeneca in the EU. We know that this vaccine is very safe, but it protects us from Covid and its more serious symptoms,” says Buddha Basnyat of the Patan Academy of Medical Sciences.Nepal has yet to receive another 1 million doses of Covidshield it ordered last month. Serum Institute of India was unable to deliver it on 15 March as expected. Similarly, Nepal received only 348,000 doses of Covishield vaccine under the COVAX initiative on 7 March of the promised 2.2 million doses. The next batch was not expected before May, but it could now be shipped earlier because of the suspensions.China, on the other hand, has increased its gift of Sinopharm vaccines to Nepal from 500,000 to 800,000 but there is a delay in procurement with Beijing insisting that Nepal send a plane to collect it .The shortfall in supply and procurement challenges have forced the Health Ministry to allow private companies to import other vaccines, including the Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech in India.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-braces-for-new-wave-with-vaccine-drive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vaccination drive</a> and fewer daily positive cases have given Nepalis a false sense of security. Youth are out and about, shopping malls, cinema halls and dance bars are crowded, schools and offices have stopped maintaining physical distance.At a time when neighbouring <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/its-not-over-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">India is experiencing a possible second wave</a>, public health experts say the public has to be even more vigilant and follow safety precautions. Even those who have been vaccinated must remember that they can still be a carrier.Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa’s advice is: “The pandemic is not over, we can’t let our guard down. Vaccinate if possible, increase testing and continue to mask up, wash hands and maintain distance.”

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