India supplies COVID-19 vaccines to neighbours, no request from Pakistan
Jan 22, 2021
New Delhi [India], January 22 : India is 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.
"As we announced on January 19, our grant assistance of vaccines to the neighbouring countries commenced on January 20. On the first day, 1.5 lakh doses of vaccines were supplied to Bhutan and one lakh doses to the Maldives as grant assistance," said.
"Yesterday, supplies of 10 lakh doses to Nepal and 20 lakh doses to Bangladesh were undertaken. Today, consignments of 15 lakh doses for Myanmar, one lakh doses to Mauritius and 50,000 doses to Seychelles are being airlifted," he added.
Srivastava said supplies as grant assistance to Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will be undertaken after receiving confirmation of regulatory clearances from these two countries.
Contractual supplies are also being undertaken to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Morocco, Bangladesh and Myanmar, he said.
"I am not aware of any request for the supply of Indian made vaccines to Pakistan on a G2G basis or commercial basis," Srivastava said answering a query.
He said keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased rollout, India will continue to supply COVID-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner.
The spokesperson said it will be ensured that domestic manufacturers will have adequate stocks to meet domestic requirements while supplying abroad.
India has given emergency use authorisation to two COVID-19 vaccines Covishield and Covaxin. Covishield is being manufactured by Serum Institute of India. Covaxin is an indigenous vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech.
