- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA is set to export eight million coronavirus vaccines by the end of October, a top official in its external affairs ministry informed on Saturday (25).
India, which is the world’s biggest maker of the jab, suspended its export in April after a devastating second wave wreaked havoc, killing several people.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi recently promised to resume the vaccines’ exports at a meeting with the leaders of the Quad forum in Washington DC, the US, where its first in-person summit was held. The Quad includes, apart from India and the US, Australia and Japan. Its leaders welcomed India’s decision to resume the export.
Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India’s foreign secretary, told the reporters on Saturday that most of the eight million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine will be sent to Asia-Pacific nations.
“This would be ready by the end of October. This is an immediate delivery, from the Quad into the Indo-Pacific region,” Shringla told reporters.
Earlier this year, New Delhi pledged to export one billion Covid-19 jabs by the end of December next year.
India’s decision to resume the export was revealed by its health minister Mansukh Mandaviya recently.
India has so far administered at least one vaccine to more than 860 million of its people.
