Till date, India has shipped a total of 229.7 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines to countries worldwide.
Out of this 64.7 lakh doses were donated as grants, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava informed media.
“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.”
India has also recently held talks with Canada to facilitate supplies of COVID vaccines.
Anurag Srivastava added that India is in the process of dispatching additional consignments to Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific island nations.
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 has shipped ‘Made in India’ vaccines to larger countries like Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
In addition, Government of India has also organised specialized training programme in India for experts from other countries on Covid-19 Management.
Earlier, calling India a “true friend”, the United States hailed India’s pharmaceutical industry’s contribution to the world.
US State Department’s South and Central Asia Bureau tweeted:
“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.”
Here’s a list of countries which have benefitted under Government of India’s Vaccine Maitri inititaive:
MEA Spokesperson added that the decision on these supplies will always be calibrated as per domestic production and the requirements of the national vaccination programme.
