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Maldives, Bangladesh to be among first to get Covid-19 vaccines from India
People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that 100,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine would be provided to the Maldives on Wednesday.
Bhutan, the Maldives and Bangladesh will be among the first countries in the neighbourhood to receive Covid-19 vaccines from India as grant assistance, with supplies of millions of doses to six nations set to begin on Wednesday.
People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccine will be sent to the Maldives on Wednesday under emergency use approvals to vaccinate frontline and health workers and senior citizens. Another consignment of 150,000 doses of Covishield will reach Bhutan on Wednesday.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said on its Facebook page the country will receive two million doses of Covishield, the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine, from India as a “gift”. It said: “A special flight of India carrying the consignment will land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka [on January 21].”
The external affairs ministry said supplies under grant assistance to Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles will begin from Wednesday in line with India’s commitment to use its vaccine production and delivery capacity to help the world fight Covid-19.
The ministry said there were also plans to provide vaccines to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius after "confirmation of necessary regulatory clearances”.
“It will be ensured that domestic manufacturers will have adequate stocks to meet domestic requirements while supplying abroad,” it added.
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Alongside the supply of vaccines, a training programme covering administrative and operational aspects is being conducted on January 19 and 20 for immunisation managers, cold chain and communications officers and data managers of recipient countries.
The only country in the region unlikely to be an immediate beneficiary of India’s efforts is Pakistan, which has not made any formal request for vaccines.
Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League party said on Twitter the two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be in addition to 30 million doses that the government had a deal for with the Serum Institute of India in November.
Since Maldives has a population of about 500,000, India’s grant will cover the vaccination of a significant percentage of the population. In addition, the Maldives plans to buy 300,000 doses from Serum Institute at commercial rates.
India’s grants are part of plans to provide up to 10 million doses of both Covidshield and Covaxin, the vaccine made by Bharat Biotech, to friendly countries, the people cited above said.
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Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives are among the countries in the region that have the closest ties with India and have benefited from connectivity and development projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few months.
Decisions on government-to-government sales and commercial sales will take more time as the government is engaged in a complex exercise focused on vaccine production, domestic requirements to vaccinate 270 million people by August, and factors such as commitments to Gavi or the Vaccine Alliance.
The Serum Institute has an agreement to supply 200 million doses to Covax, a facility coordinated by Gavi and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to provide vaccines to lower-income countries.
“Keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased rollout [of the immunisation programme], India will continue to supply Covid-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner,” the external affairs ministry said.
India will also “continue to supply countries all over the world with vaccines” and this will be “calibrated against domestic requirements and international demand and obligations, including under Gavi’s Covax facility,” it added.
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On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to his government’s plans to help the neighbourhood and other regions in replies to tweets from Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih who congratulated India on the rollout of the world’s largest vaccination programme.
“We will continue to give due importance to our 'Neighbourhood First' policy while collectively fighting the pandemic,” PM Modi tweeted.
Officials have repeatedly said the neighbourhood will get priority in the provision of vaccines as grant assistance, as was the case in the supply of hydroxychloroquine to numerous countries amid the pandemic last year.
India earlier supplied hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir, paracetamol tablets, diagnostic kits, ventilators and medical supplies to several countries during the pandemic. It helped train personnel in neighbouring countries to enhance their clinical capabilities under the Partnerships for Accelerating Clinical Trials (PACT) programme.
Former ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, distinguished fellow for foreign policy studies at Gateway House, said, “This decision is a manifestation of the Modi government’s policy of ‘Neighbourhood First’. Clearly, as the needs of our own people begin to be met, the first people we think of are our close neighbours.”
