In news : Recently, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that so far India has supplied a total of 229.7 lakh doses to the global community under Vaccine Maitri
About Vaccine Maitri
- With its ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative, India has sought to buttress ties with countries not just within its immediate radius, but beyond
- Only days after beginning its own immunisation programme, India has wasted no time in embarking on a vaccine diplomacy drive that has already garnered plaudits from the international community.
- Under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ principle, India originally delivered vaccine consignments that included the Covishield and Covaxin countries to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar and Nepal.
- Agreements were also quickly inked with Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Aid to Nepal
India won the hearts of the people of Nepal by providing one million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in grants to the country.
Nepal is one of the first few countries in the world that received the Indian-manufactured Covid-19 vaccine “Covishield”, immediately after it was rolled out in Indian territory.
Aid to CARICOM plus
- India has announced a humanitarian donation of 5.7 lakh doses of vaccines for the Caribbean Region.
- This includes CARICOM plus, Cuba and Dominican Republic.
- Countries including Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, are CARICOM countries.
- The vaccines are being sent to these countries as humanitarian aid.
- India has also sent vaccines to other countries as aid and on commercial basis
Commercial Basis
The countries who received the vaccine doses on commercial basis include Brazil (20 Lakhs), Egypt (50000), Algeria (50000), South Africa (10 Lakhs), Kuwait (2 Lakhs) and UAE (2 Lakhs), Morocco (60 Lakhs), Bangladesh (50 lakhs), and Myanmar (20 lakhs).
Where are the vaccines coming from?
- The vaccines which are either being sent as humanitarian aid or commercially are all coming from the Pune based Serum Institute of India (SII) – which is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines.
- Covishield: It was developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca and manufactured by India’s Serum Institute
