India’s immediate priority is to use made in India vaccines for its own people, said the Ministry of External Services…reports Asian Lite News
The Ministry of External Affairs has made clear that India will only start the supply of vaccines overseas once it will fulfill its domestic demand.
Addressing a weekly media briefing on Thursday, MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “Our position on vaccine exports has been consistent and clear. We have always stated that overseas supply of vaccines from India would depend on vaccine availability and our domestic vaccination program.”
Bagchi said this when asked about exporting the vaccine doses to Bangladesh.
“For the moment, our priority remains utilizing made in India vaccines for our own vaccination program,” he said, adding that the new phase of vaccination has given a boost to the vaccination program in the country.
On June 21, India began the third phase of vaccination with an aim to provide free vaccination to all above the age of 18 years.
As on Thursday, India’s cumulative vaccination coverage has exceeded 30 crores. A total of 30,16,26,028 vaccine doses have been administered through 40,45,516 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am.
Further, Bagchi noted that efforts are being made to increase the availability of vaccines in the country through increased domestic vaccine production as well as imports.
“The Government of India is making all efforts to augment vaccine availability in the country be it through domestic production or imports,” he said.
On the availability of Pfizer vaccine doses in India, the MEA Spokesperson said, “As regards the specific vaccines and the status of their imports into India, this is the matter for the concerned regulatory authorities.” (INN)
ALSO READ: Jaishankar aims at citizen-friendly passport services
ALSO READ: EAM leaves for G-20 ministerial meetings in Italy