Ensure easy access to COVID-19 vaccines, Nepal urges the UN

April 28, Kathmandu: Nepal has noted that the anti-COVID-19 vaccine should not be made a subject of racism and nationalism but an accessible public good that can be easily purchased and used by all.

Nepal noted this while taking part in the ongoing 77th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) underway in Bangkok on the theme of “Building back better from crises through regional cooperation in Asia and the Pacific.”

On the occasion, Nepal has stressed the inevitability of the shared cooperation and understanding among all the nations considering the whole world as a society in the context when the entire human being is grappling with a crisis.

National Planning Commission (NPC) Vice-Chairperson Prof Dr Pushpa Raj Kandel leading a six-member Nepali delegation said that the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted the Nepali economy in general while the hardest-hit sectors were trade, tourism and transport sectors, shared the Bangkok-based Nepali Embassy today.

He further informed the participants about the measures adopted by the Nepal government in preventing the outbreak of the virus.

Noting that the multi-faceted impacts of the pandemic are likely to dent the country’s dream of graduating to the status of developing country from the existing Least Developed Country (LDC), he said Nepal had been working to protect the lives of its citizens, improve the health service system and sustain the economy of the country.

The delegation comprises NPC Secretary Kewal Prasad Bhandari, Nepali Ambassador to Thailand and Permanent Nepali Representative for UN ESCAP Ganesh Dhakal and senior officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NPC, the Embassy sources said