Consignment of made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines reaches Dominican Republic

A consignment of made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines have been received in Dominican Republic as India's 'Vaccine Maitri' programme reached the Carribean.

"Delivered to Dominican Republic. 'Vaccine Maitri' reaches our Caribbean friends," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted on Tuesday, along with pictures of the consignment being received in Dominican Republic.

Jaishankar also retweeted Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader's tweet stating that AstraZeneca vaccines from India had been received and his country will start vaccinating front-line personnel.

Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez tweeted, "At a crucial moment, the Indian govt assists by accelerating the delivery of 20,000 doses of AZ to the dom people. Thank you." Last week, the Ministry of External Affairs had said India provided over 229 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines to various countries out of which 64 lakh doses have been supplied as grant assistance and 165 lakh on commercial basis.

In the coming weeks, vaccines will be supplied to more countries in Africa, Latin America, CARICOM and the Pacific Island states, MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had said.

In a major announcement, India on January 19 said it will send COVID-19 vaccines under grant assistance to several countries.

India is one of the world's biggest drugmakers, and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring anti-coronavirus vaccines.