MEA: India ships 229.7 lakh COVID-19 vaccines to countries; donates 64.7 lakh as grants

India has shipped a total of 229.7 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines to countries worldwide, of which, 64.7 lakh doses were donated as grants, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Friday. "As of date, we have supplied a total of 229.7 lakh doses to the global community. Of these, 64.7 lakh doses have been supplied as a grant while 165 lakh doses have been supplied on a commercial basis," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a briefing, according to ANI. He added, that New Delhi is in the process of dispatching additional consignments to Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific island states and the shipment is being aligned as per the country’s domestic manufacturing and India’s own vaccination program.

When asked by reporters about the shipments planned by India in the coming days, the MEA spokesperson said, We will continue to take forward our vaccine supply initiative in a phased manner,” adding that the supply is scheduled for more countries in the pipeline. India also recently held talks with Canada to facilitate supplies of COVID vaccines, as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tweet, following a telephonic conversation with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.

Under India’s Vaccine Maitri initiative, the country dispatched millions of doses manufactured at the world’s largest Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) as humanitarian aid to the smaller nations. India’s generous efforts were started in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to making the medicinal product available for all of humanity to combat the global pandemic and oppose vaccine nationalism.

Of the millions of vial shipments that India dispatched across several countries in the region, including China’s close ally Cambodia, approximately 5.7 lakh doses were sent to nations in the Caribbean Region, including the CARICOM plus, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, according to reports. Among those countries are Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts, and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and many more. 

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US calls India 'a true friend' 

Calling India a “true friend” for the developing nations and its neighbours, the United States hailed India’s pharmaceutical industry’s contribution to the world. Under the grant assistance, India has already played a key role in kick-starting the vaccination campaign across Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mauritius, and Seychelles. It also shipped ‘Made in India’ vaccines to larger countries like Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. “We applaud India’s role in global health, sharing millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccine in South Asia. India's free shipments of the vaccine began with Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal and will extend to others,” US State Department’s South and Central Asia Bureau tweeted, acknowledging India’s role in eliminating the health crisis for several nations. 

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