Vaccine Maitri: Centre permits export of Covishield & Covaxin doses to neighboring nations

The Union government of India on Thursday permitted the supply of vaccine doses to various countries including Iran, Nepal, Myanmar & Bangladesh under the country’s push for ‘Vaccine Maitri’. The decision comes after the government permitted the export of the vaccine after halting it for several months.

Govt permits export of Covaxin & Covishield doses

Sources privy with the matter apprised that the Centre had approved the export of 10 lakh vaccine doses of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin to Iran and export of 10 lakh doses each of Serum Institute’s Covishield to Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The decision comes after the Centre had earlier declared to extend its support to the world for vaccine equity, as the country is continuing to record vaccination in record numbers domestically. 

Two weeks ago, Nepal’s envoy to India said that Nepal was looking forward to expanding its vaccination program and was waiting to receive the vaccines made in India. Expecting a larger consignment of the vaccines, Nepal's envoy to India Nilamber Acharya said on Sept 22 that Nepal had placed an order of 2 million vaccines with Pune-based pharmaceutical company Serum Institute of India. 

To bolster India’s commitment towards global vaccine equity, Covishield vaccine producer, Serum Institute of India has asserted its support for India’s decision of re-opening the COVID vaccine export. On September 22, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer has announced that it will be able to supply over 22 crore doses of Covishield in the coming month.

As per a PTI report, the SII has apprised the Central government that the firm has enhanced its production capacity of Covishield and it will be able to supply 21.90 crore doses in October to the Government of India and private hospitals. The pharma company has increased its manufacturing capacity several folds and is now capable of producing more than 20 crore doses per month. 

Vaccine Maitri Initiative 

Vaccine Maitri is a humanitarian initiative undertaken by the Indian Government to provide COVID vaccines to countries around the world. The initiative commenced on January 20, 2021. As of May 9, 2021, India had shipped around 66.3 million vaccines. Of these, over 10 million doses were gifted to 47 nations by the Government.

India crosses 92.63 crore vaccination mark

India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has reached 92.63 crores, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, after 43,09,525 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours. As of 7 a.m. on Thursday, 92,63,68,608 vaccine doses had been administered during 90,14,182 sessions.

Image: PTI/ Twitter