By: Rahul Koul
Last updated : March 25, 2021 9:57 am
Supplies have been undertaken in the form of grants-in-aid, commercial sales by the manufacturers, and through GAVI’s COVAX facility
India began the external supplies of Make-in-India COVID19 vaccines on March 20, 2021 and so far 74 countries have received a total of 5.96 crore vaccine doses till March 17, 2021, while 7.47 crore vaccine doses have been supplied to states and union Territories within India.
Supplies have been undertaken in the form of grants-in-aid, commercial sales by the manufacturers, and through GAVI’s COVAX facility that has more than 190 members including India. Out of 5.96 crore vaccine doses, 1.75 crore doses have been supplied through GAVI’s COVAX facility, 3.40 crore doses through commercial, and 0.81 crore doses through grants-in-aid.
Bangladesh stands at the top with 90 lakh doses, out of which 70 lakh doses have been supplied commercially and the rest 20 lakh doses through Grant-in-aid. Morocco is the second on the list with 70 lakh doses that have been supplied commercially. In third place is the United Kingdom with 50 lakh doses provided directly through commercial means, followed by Brazil with 40 lakh doses.
Nigeria which is at the fifth spot in terms of total vaccine doses has been supplied with 39.24 lakh doses through the GAVI’s COVAX facility. Myanmar follows with 37 lakh doses through both commercial and grant-in-aid routes. Other big receivers are Nepal 23.48 at lakh doses and Ethiopia at 21.84 lakh doses, followed by DR Congo at 17.66 lakh doses and Sri Lanka at 12.64 lakh doses.
Other countries that have received doses below 10 lakh include Bhutan, Uganda, Maldives Mauritius, Seychelles, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Algeria, South, Africa, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Barbados, Dominica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, Salvador, Argentina, Serbia, Mongolia, Ukraine, Ghana, Ivory Coast, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Suriname, Antigua & Barbuda, Congo, Angola, Gambia, Nigeria, Cambodia, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Guatemala, Canada, Mali, Sudan, Liberia, Malawi, Uganda, Nicaragua, Guyana, Jamaica, UK, Djibouti, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Belize, Botswana, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, Benin, Eswatini, Bahamas, Cape Verde, Iran, Uzbekistan, Solomon Islands, and Laos.
The government of India has constituted a sub-group of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 to consider all matters related to vaccine export of COVID-19 vaccines and take necessary decisions with due regard to domestic production and ensuring adequate availability for the national vaccine program for COVID-19. This sub-group closely monitors the supplies.
Speaking in the upper house of Parliament, Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Ashwini Kumar Choubey said, “Once an epidemic takes the form of a pandemic, its management has to be done keeping the entire globe as a unit and in most circumstances, it is not possible to take either states-specific or country-specific approach. Hence, the export of the COVID-19 vaccine which facilitates global action to vaccination is important to simultaneously protect the high-risk population in all the countries of the world, thereby breaking the chain of transmission and minimizing chances of import of COVID-19 cases from foreign countries as well as neighboring countries to India.”
Choubey also dispelled the notion that India is ignoring domestic requirements while promoting the global cause at its cost.
“Low and middle-income countries, as well as nations with limited access to pharmaceutical technologies, are at debilitating disadvantages in dealing with the pandemic. To this end, the Indian government has allowed only limited export of vaccines while according to highest priority to domestic needs,” added Choubey