India has supplied a total of 229.7 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the global community of which 165 lakh doses have been supplied on a commercial basis while 64.7 lakh doses have been given as grants, the MEA has said.
Morocco got the biggest supply of 60 lakhs doses of the vaccine on a commercial basis, followed by Bangladesh (50 lakh), Brazil (20 lakh), Myanmar (20 lakh), South Africa (10 lakh), Kuwait (2 lakh), UAE (2 lakh), Egypt (50,000) and Algeria (50,000).
Countries that received the vaccine as gifts include Banglades(20 lakh doses), Myanmar(17 lakh), Nepal (10 lakh ), Bhutan (1.5 lakh), Maldives(1 lakh), Mauritius(1 lakh), Seychelles(50,000), Sri Lanka(5 lakh), Bahrain (1 lakh), Oman (1 lakh), Afghanistan (5 lakh), Barbados (1 lakh) and Dominica (70,000). “ In the coming weeks, vaccines will be supplied to more countries in Africa, Latin America, CARICOM and Pacific Island states,” said MEA spokesperson Anuran Srivastava.”
Decisions on these supplies will, of course, be calibrated as per domestic production and the requirements of the national vaccination programme, he added.
On the recent change in stance of the Sri Lankan government regarding investments in the Colombo port, the spokesperson said that India’s interest for participation in the Colombo port was a long standing one since most goods handled there are from and to India. “We had, in principle, agreement from the Sri Lankan Government in this regard. Current government has, however, expressed a preference in engaging investors directly. I understand discussions are still underway,” Srivastava said.