India’s vaccine diplomacy took further wing with 1 lakh anti-Covid shots being sent to Oman, a close partner in the Gulf, after having supplied the jabs to immediate neighbors. Later this week, India is scheduled to send over 5 lakh doses to Afghanistan.
India will also send 2 lakh doses to Nicaragua, 1 lakh to Barbados, 70,000 to Dominica, and 1.5 lakh to Mongolia, though dates are yet to be finalized.
Egypt, Algeria, UAE, and Kuwait have all purchased vaccines and are on the commercial export list. Apart from the gifts, Mongolia (10 lakh) Nicaragua (3 lakh), Saudi Arabia (30 lakh), Myanmar, and Bangladesh are among those who have contracted to purchase vaccines from India. The purchases are made commercially but need export clearance from the Indian government.
Meanwhile, around seven million made-in-India doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine will be part of Pakistan’s free Covid-19 vaccination drive starting next week under the global Covax alliance, PM Imran Khan’s special assistant on health Dr. Faisal Sultan said on Sunday.
As a special Pakistani plane departed for China to fetch the first batch of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine, Dr. Sultan announced that around seven million out of the 17 million committed doses of Covishield would reach the country by March. Which is now under scrutiny for corruption charges.
The UN Covax initiative will see India selling about 100 lakh doses of vaccines. Also, the UN will be buying about 4 lakh doses for its workers all over the world.
India’s vaccination drive is attracting attention, with the Indian ambassador to the Philippines Shambu Kumaran tweeting on Sunday that the Asian nation was examining India’s rollout of inoculations, pointing to reports in the local media there. the article was originally published in the Times of India. Only the Headline was changed with some additional information.
