Mexico President expresses gratitude towards India for additional COVID-19 vaccine doses

After New Delhi sent 8,70,000 additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has expressed his gratitude towards the Indian government. A video has been shared online of Mexican President Obrador, where he can be seen addressing a group of journalists and thanking the Indian government for giving consent for additional doses of vaccine to be sent to Mexico. 

“We are talking about the case of India. They have control (over vaccine distribution) because, naturally, understandably they have their population that they must vaccinate. So, vaccines do not go out if there is no authorization from the Indian government, hence the importance of this fact is that they have authorized to send these vaccines to us and we are grateful to the Indian government,” President Obrador said in his address. 

Other Mexican leaders, including Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, were seen in the video, thanking India for sending vaccine doses on short notice. In the video, the general public of Mexico can also be seen expressing their gratitude towards India for sending the jabs. The Mexican government reportedly bought the vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India for $4 per dose. Mexico had started vaccinating health workers and other frontline professionals in December 2020, however, due to a shortage of doses the government struggled to meet its target. 

Earlier last month, India sent 5,00,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico under the "Vaccine Maitri" initiative. However, after the government of Mexico requested additional doses, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar made huge efforts to quickly send 8,70,000 more doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that is being produced in Pune by the Serum Institute of India. 

India's "Vaccine Maitri"

India has won global praise for its ‘Vaccine Maitri’ programme which aims to aid low- and middle-income countries amidst the global pandemic. So far, India has exported the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and Bharat Biotech's indigenous vaccine to more than 29 countries and will be providing vaccine doses to 49 more countries in the coming days. Both the vaccines are already in circulation in India with senior citizens receiving the jabs in the second phase of the immunization drive.

(Image Credit: ANI/AP)