India on Thursday appeared to rule out any immediate resumption of Covid-19 vaccine exports to neighbouring countries, saying its focus was on the domestic immunisation programme while simultaneously working to boost vaccine production.
The vaccination programmes of several neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal were affected when India put the brakes on its vaccine export scheme after the country was hit by a devastating second wave of Coronavirus infections in late March.
Responding to questions on the possible resumption of vaccine exports, especially to neighbouring countries, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a weekly news briefing that India’s position on this issue had been “consistent and clear”.
“We have always stated that overseas supply of vaccines from India would depend on vaccine availability and our domestic vaccination programme,” he said.
“For the moment, our priority remains on utilising made-in-India vaccines for our own vaccination programme, which, as you know, has received a boost with the new phase of vaccination that was launched on June 21. We are also making efforts to further increase our domestic vaccine production,” he added.
Referring to the possibility of other vaccines such as the one made by Pfizer being introduced in India, Bagchi said the government is “making all efforts to augment vaccine availability in the country through domestic production or imports”.
{{/usCountry}}Referring to the possibility of other vaccines such as the one made by Pfizer being introduced in India, Bagchi said the government is “making all efforts to augment vaccine availability in the country through domestic production or imports”.
{{/usCountry}}The issue of specific vaccines and the status of their imports into India is a matter to be decided by regulatory authorities, he said, without giving details.
Before exports were halted, India supplied almost 66.4 million doses of vaccines to 95 countries, including 10.7 million doses as grants and 19.9 million doses through the WHO-backed COVAX facility. The country’s neighbours had been among the first to get vaccines both as grants and commercial supplies.
India is currently using the AstraZeneca, Covaxin and Sputnik V vaccines for its domestic vaccination programme and talks are on to introduce other vaccines that have been authorised by the World Health Organization.