The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), on Tuesday, announced to supply COVID-19 vaccines to India’s six neighboring countries under grant assistance. MEA also revealed the names of the six countries which will receive COVID-19 vaccines from India and those countries are Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Seychelles. The delivery process will start from Wednesday, that is, January 20.
India is deeply honoured to be a long-trusted partner in meeting the healthcare needs of the global community. Supplies of Covid vaccines to several countries will commence tomorrow, and more will follow in the days ahead.
#VaccineMaitri https://t.co/9Czfkuk8h7— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 19, 2021
The Indian government seems to be under great pressure and compulsion due to numerous requests that it is receiving from several countries for the high demand for Indian manufactured COVID-19 vaccines. India is all set to supply vaccines to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Mauritius as soon as these countries confirm necessary regulatory clearances.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India will supply coronavirus vaccines to neighboring countries in a phased manner over the coming weeks and months.
The MEA also said, “It will make sure that domestic vaccine manufacturers will not go out-of-stock of the COVID-19 vaccines so that the people of this nation will have to suffer if there is going to be a shortage of vaccines while supplying abroad.”
Also Read- Delhi Covid-19 Vaccination: The Inoculation Will Be Done Four Times A Week
The first batch of the lot, nearly 150,000 doses of Covishield vaccines, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), will be out for delivery to Thimphu (Capital of Bhutan) and nearly 100,000 doses will be supplied to the Maldives, starting Wednesday.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi tweeted on Tuesday, “India is deeply honored to be a long-trusted partner in meeting the healthcare needs of the global community. Supplies of COVID vaccines to several countries will commence tomorrow, and more will follow in the days ahead. #VaccineMaitri.”
Two vaccines, Covishield and Cavaxin are being administered to frontline health workers after rolling out a massive coronavirus vaccination drive. Both the vaccines are manufactured by two different pharmaceutical companies – Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and the Covaxin is being produced by Bharat Biotech.