Photo: Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press

The Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI) will today deliver 1.5 million doses of COVID-19 booster shots to Nepal.

Following the sudden rise of positive FB.7—a sub-variant of Omicron—cases in neighboring countries such as India and China, the Nepalese government is gearing up to curb another possible outbreak. While the new set of Pfizer-Biontec Bivalent vaccines are not required for everybody, the Nepalese health minister Dr Sanjay Mahaseth strongly urges its citizens to get vaccinated. Despite Dr. Mahaseth’s claim that there is a high demand for booster shots both  locally and provincially, it is unlikely many Nepalese people will get the booster shot.

Although the Nepalese government is alarmed about the current outbreaks going on near its borders, Nepal will refrain from taking radical steps that may impact travel into the country.  It is highly unlikely for Nepal to close its borders to outsiders or impose strict regulations such as quarantine restrictions during the short-to medium-term. This is mainly because of the economic implications that come with imposition of  restrictive measures, which may hurt tourism and foreign investment accounts, a large part of Nepal’s GDP.