India has resumed overseas supply of India-made Covid-19 vaccines keeping in mind the country’s domestic requirement of vaccines, the Ministry of External Affairs has said.
“Some shipments have already taken place while others are in the pipeline, including through the Covax facility,” MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing on Thursday.
India had stopped exporting Covid-19 vaccines in April after the second wave of the pandemic resulted in its fast spread. However, now with the spread under control, and India comfortable with its stock of vaccines, exports are re-starting.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently announced that India would be producing 5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines in 2022.
On the issue of mutual recognition of vaccine certification for travel that India has entered into with 96 countries, Bagchi explained that some countries accept all WHO recognised vaccines and therefore both Astra Zeneca’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin that got WHO nod recently would get automatic recognition. But there were also others that issued individual orders for individual vaccines. “They perhaps need to issue separate orders for Covaxin. We are taking it up,” he said.
It can be hoped that soon all 96 countries will accept both vaccines and the list will go up, he added.