Just days after India started vaccinating priority groups in India, the Indian government has already started sending the vaccines to other countries. Even before commercial export by the manufacturers, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, makers of Covishield and Covaxin, had started, the central govt has already procured Covid-19 vaccines from them to send to other countries as grants.
The Modi government has decided to send the vaccines to almost all neighbouring countries, with one notable exception. While the first shipment of Indian vaccines had landed Bhutan and after that in the Maldives, vaccines have reached other nearby nations like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and the country plans to send vaccines to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka soon. Other than these neighbouring countries, India has also sent vaccines to Seychelles and Mauritius as grant supplies.
However, India has not sent any vaccines to its western neighbour Pakistan, and there are no reports suggesting that the govt may help the terror sponsor nation with vaccines. After India had started sending vaccines to other countries, the ‘aman ki aasha’ proponents have been demanding that India should send vaccines to Pakistan also in humanitarian grounds. However, the central govt has not shown any inclination of accepting that demand.
However, after India started sending vaccines to friendly nations, Pakistan managed to obtain a promise of 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from its all-weather ally China as an aid.
Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi informed on Thursday, “I want to give the nation the good news that China has promised to immediately provide 500,000 doses of vaccine to Pakistan by January 31.” He informed the same after a phone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Quoting Yi, Qureshi said that Pakistan is the first country China is helping with its vaccine against the Chinese virus.
On Monday, Pakistan had approved the Chinese state-owned firm Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. Earlier it had already approved the vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca for emergency use. It is notable that the world’s largest vaccine maker Serum Institute of India is making the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in India under the Covishield brand.
In the last couple of days, India has sent 1.5 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Bhutan, 1 lakh doses to Maldives, 20 lakh doses to Bangladesh, 15 lakh doses to Myanmar, 10 lakh doses to Nepal, 50,000 doses to Seychelles, and 1 lakh doses to Mauritius.
Apart from these grants by India, commercial export of vaccines is also starting from today. Serum Institute is shipping the Covishield vaccine to Brazil and Morocco today. South Africa and Saudi Arabia will also get shipments for the same in the coming days.
Brazil, the second-worst country hit by Covid-19, has been asking India to send the vaccines. It had even offered to send a plane last week to pick up the shipment.
However, India has not sent any vaccines to its western neighbour Pakistan, and there are no reports suggesting that the govt may help the terror nation with vaccines. However, after India started sending vaccines to friendly nations, Pakistan managed to obtain a promise 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from its all-weather ally China as aid.
Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi informed on Thursday, “I want to give the nation the good news that China has promised to immediately provide 500,000 doses of vaccine to Pakistan by January 31.” He informed the same after a phone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Quoting Yi, Qureshi said that Pakistan is the first country China is helping with its vaccine against the Chinese virus.
On Monday, Pakistan had approved the Chinese state-owned firm Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. Earlier it had already approved the vaccine developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. It is notable that world’s largest vaccine maker Serum Institute of India is making the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in India under the Covishield brand.
In the last couple of days, India has sent 1.5 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Bhutan, 1 lakh doses to Maldives, 20 lakh doses to Bangladesh, 15 lakh doses to Myanmar, 10 lakh doses to Nepal, 50,000 doses to Seychelles, 1 lakh doses to Mauritius.
Apart from these grants by India, commercial export of vaccines is also starting from today. Serum Institute is shipping the Covishield vaccine to Brazil and Morocco today. South Africa and Saudi Arabia will also get shipments for the same in the coming days.
Brazil, the second worst country hit by Covid-19, has been asking India to send the vaccines. It had even offered to send a plane last week to pick up the shipment.
There is great demand for Indian vaccines across the world, especially from less developed nations, as the vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna as relatively expensive, and they have been already purchased by richer nations, leaving no stock for others. Moreover, those vaccines need to be stored in much low temperature, requiring extensive cold storage and transport facilities, while the Covishield and Covaxin can be stored in domestic refrigerators.