A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to leave for the United States of America for a conference, the Union Health Minister announced that India will resume its export of vaccines to other countries in October.
This was ahead of the meeting where US President Joe Biden was expected to speak about India’s plans of continuing their supply of excess doses to countries who need it.
In view of the obnoxiously rapid growing cases during the second wave of covid-19, the country who produces vaccines at the biggest scale, stopped shipping its vaccines in April to ensure its population gets the first preference and everyone gets vaccinated.
By December 2021, India is looking at vaccinating its 944 million adults as part of its inoculation programme. While a small number of people have received both doses, around 61 per cent of the population has been administered with the first shot.
PM Modi is due to fly for Washington on Tuesday where the Quad countries including Japan, India, the US and Australia are conducting a summit to discuss matters of interest- vaccines likely to be one of them.
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Countries falling under the global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX and other neighbouring nations will be prioritized in the new export drive, called ‘Vaccine Maitri’, according to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
India started producing twice more vaccines every month since April. It has geared up to quadruple the figure to more than 300 million shots from October.
With approvals for vaccine manufacture awaited (for Biological E and others), the total number of vaccines could exceed 100 crores in last 3 months of 2021, he said.
Speaking about the plan, Mr Mandaviya said that only the surplus vaccines would be sent. “We will help other countries and also fulfil our responsibility towards COVAX, neighbouring (nations) first,” he said.
Before the export drive was stopped in April, India had sold and donated 66 million doses of covid vaccines, mainly Covishield, to almost 100 countries worldwide.
As Serum Institute of India kickstarted its massive scale production of vaccines with triple times more output, India boosted its vaccination programme in August. Vaccine makers in India have prepared to make almost 300 crore covid vaccine shots every year, 20 crore of these are being made by SII alone every month.
