India will resume the export and donations of the COVID-19 vaccines to other countries from next month, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Monday, 20 September.
“Under ‘Vaccine Maitri’, we will help the world and contribute to COVAX in the fourth quarter,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Only surplus vaccine doses will be exported, and the vaccination of Indian citizens will remain the topmost priority for the government, Mandaviya further observed.
India had halted the export of vaccines to other countries in April this year, as infections had surged during the second wave of the pandemic.
Mandaviya told the media that India will resume vaccine exports to fulfil the country’s commitment towards the world in the collective fight against COVID.
This announcement has come just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US where the issue of vaccine export was likely going to be raised by US President, Joe Biden.
Addressing the media, Mandaviya said that this is an effort to restart the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ programme to meet the country’s Covax global pool. However, he stressed that vaccinating the citizens of India is a top priority.
He further added that the government is expecting to receive over thirty crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines in October and over a hundred crore doses in the next three months. Currently, only 61 per cent of the adult population has been vaccinated and the government aims to innoculate at least 94.4 crore adults by December this year.
Vaccines are going to be a part of the discussion at a summit of the leaders of the Quad countries – the United States, India, Japan and Australia.
