India to give 20 mn Covishield vaccines to friendly nations |
India has begun exporting indigenously made Coronavirus vaccines as a gesture of goodwill to friendly countries especially its neighbours in South Asia. Countries had sought India`s robust, affordable and efficacious vaccine. India makes about 60% of vaccines globally. India plans to offer 20 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to its neighbours and friendly countries and may offer it free to some. Vaccines from the Serum Institute of India Ltd. and Bharat Biotech International Ltd. are set to be routed by authorised vaccine suppliers to Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Seychelles, and Mauritius. The government is planning to give Serum India Institute`s Covishield to its neighbouring countries Nepal for free and 2 million doses as a gift to Bangladesh. Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering on 18th January announced that the Indian government will provide COVID-19 vaccines for free. Bhutan was likely to receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India. This comes after the Nepal Government approved the emergency use of the `Covishield` vaccine last week, which is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. The Indian side assured that the requirements of Nepal would be in priority consideration after the roll-out of vaccines. Two nations that have urgently sought doses in millions as the pandemic surges on are Brazil and South Africa. Brazil sent an aircraft to India after Modi agreed to expedite vaccine shipments. The Serum Institute of India will supply 2 million vaccines to the South American nation. South Africa, which is battling a second wave and a new variant of the virus, will be receiving one million COVID-19 vaccines from Serum Institute later this month. This will be followed by an additional 500,000 doses in February.
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