The Nepali government is all set to sign a deal to procure 6 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines through a non-disclosure agreement, a media report said. Earlier, Nepal had signed similar non-disclosure agreements to procure vaccines from China. 

“The procurement will be made under a non-disclosure agreement, as per the request from the manufacturing company,” an official of the health ministry was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. The talks were in the final phase and the deal is expected to be signed in a month’s time. 
  
Nepal had earlier bought 10 million doses of Vero Cell under a non-disclosure agreement with a Chinese firm.  Any deal to procure vaccines will follow the conditions set by the World Bank even if the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is brought under a non-disclosure agreement, the officer said.

Nepal has had agreements with Asian Development Bank and the World Bank for concessional loans to support the country’s resilient recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. In June this year, Nepal and the World Bank had signed a $150 million concessional loan agreement.

Similarly, in August, Nepal had signed agreements with GAVI to procure four million Moderna vaccines. Recently, it had received 1 million vaccines from India’s Serum Institute after the Indian government lifted the ban on the export of vaccines. 

(SAM)