After India dispatched two million doses of Covishield vaccines to Brazil on Friday, Brazilian President Jair M. Bolosonaro has thanked India for the vaccines and the “great partnership” during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Brazil feels honoured to have a great partner to overcome a global obstacle by joining efforts. Thank you for assisting us with the vaccines exports from India to Brazil. Dhanyavaad! धनयवाद”
Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Embassy in New Delhi, had made arrangements with India and SII for the transportation of the COVID-19 vaccines, following up on a letter from President Jair Bolsonaro to Prime Minister Narendra Modi dated January 8.
India is also supplying COVID-19 vaccines being manufactured in the country to neighbouring countries including Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh but has not received any request from Pakistan.
Addressing the weekly media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said there is an interest in accessing vaccines from India, which is the global hub of vaccine production. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used for the benefit of all humanity to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used for the benefit of all humanity to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
On January 19, New Delhi announced its grant assistance of vaccines to the neighbouring countries. On January 20, 1.5 lakh doses of vaccines were supplied to Bhutan and one lakh doses to the Maldives as grant assistance.
On Thursday, New Delhi supplied 10 lakh doses to Nepal and 20 lakh doses to Bangladesh.
Large consignments of Covishield vaccine doses were flown in special Indian aircraft to Seychelles, Mauritius, and Myanmar on Friday.
The United States on Friday “applauded” India for gifting COVID-19 vaccines to several countries including the Maldives, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, saying New Delhi is a “true friend” which is using its pharma industry to help the global community.
An official statement from Brazil’s Health Ministry said that the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine will be distributed to the Brazilian states within five days after the approval of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).
“Immunization all over the country will be carried out simultaneously and free of charge,” it added.
Speaking on the India-Brazil relations, the Ministry said, “The successful acquisition of doses from the British parent company and the Indian vaccine producer demonstrates the excellent state of Brazil-United Kingdom and Brazil-India relations and the strength of the strategic relationships we have with both countries.”
