Large consignments of Covishield vaccine doses were flown in special Indian aircraft to Seychelles, Mauritius and Myanmar on Friday. The shipments of the vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in Pune is part of the Vaccine Maitri diplomacy that the Ministry of External Affairs said will also cover Africa which is in need of affordable COVID-19 vaccine doses.
“Today, consignments of 15 lakh doses for Myanmar, 1 lakh doses to Mauritius and 50,000 doses to Seychelles are being airlifted,” said Official Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava who reiterated that there is “interest in many countries in accessing vaccines from India.”.
“(Vaccine) Supplies as grant assistance to Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will be undertaken after receiving confirmation of regulatory clearances from these two countries. Contractual supplies are also being undertaken to Saudi Arabia, Africa, Brazil, Morocco...,” said Mr. Srivastava.
An informed source confirmed that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is waiting for Dhaka’s permission for clinical trial in Bangladesh.
In the first round of supplies, special flights have already carried large consignments of the Covishield vaccine doses to Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal during January 20-21. “Keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased rollout, India will continue to supply COVID-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner. It will be ensured that domestic manufacturers will have adequate stocks to meet domestic requirements while supplying abroad,” said Mr Srivastava.