Govt to speed up 'Vaccine Maitri' by December
Oct 14, 2021
By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], October 14 : India may accelerate the export of COVID-19 vaccines under its humanitarian initiative 'Vaccine Maitri' by December.
'Vaccine Maitri' is an initiative that was started by the Government of India to provide COVID-19 vaccines to countries around the world.
"In a fourth quarter, we will be having an excess number of doses in India and we will be able to help other countries under Vaccine Maitri Covid vaccine doses. It's expected that India will have excess doses from next month onwards," said a senior official source.
The government on October 7 permitted the Serum Institute of India (SII) to export 10 lakh Covishield doses each to Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh, while Bharat Biotech to provide 10 lakh doses to Iran.
"The four countries have received COVID-19 vaccines under Vaccine Maitri, Nepal, Myanmar, Iran and Bangladesh 10 lakh each," he added.
He further said, "While the nation remains the first priority, we will start exporting as soon as we will be in line with our mission to inoculate the majority of India by the year-end."
