Covid-19: As Modi heads to US, India to resume vaccine exports by Oct

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to the United States to participate in the United Nations General Assembly meeting and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue Summit, India said on Monday it will resume export of surplus Covid-19 vaccines by October.

India will resume exports by next month, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, media reports said.

He said that the effort is part of India’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ program and to meet the country’s commitment to the Covax global vaccine pool. “This is in line with our motto of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, he said.

However, vaccinating India’s own citizens remains the topmost priority of the government, he clarified.

Mandaviya informed that the government expects to receive over 300 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in October and another 1000 million in the next three months.

“The production will go up as Biological E and other companies are launching their vaccines into the market,” he said.

Mandavia said that cumulative doses administered so far across India have crossed the 810 million mark. The last 100 million of these were administered only in the last 11 days.

Covax is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Underlining the importance of indigenous research and production of Covid vaccines in India, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, the minister said that Modi’s relentless and focused efforts and guidance ensured that India simultaneously undertook research and production of vaccines in such a big way.

Earlier this week, India was reported to be planning to resume vaccine exports, mainly to Africa, as it has partly immunized a majority of its adults.

India had started vaccine exports in January 2021 but had to stop in April to focus on inoculating its own population as the second, and a fiercer, wave of Covid-19 infections surged across the country.

The government plans to vaccinate all of its adult population by December 2021 and has so far administered at least one dose to 61 percent of them.

The announcement to resume vaccine exports came ahead of PM Modi’s visit to Washington next week where vaccine export is among the expected subjects at a summit of the leaders of the Quad countries, the United States, India, Japan, and Australia.

During his US visit, the PM is also likely to meet Vice-President Kamala Harris and Apple chief Tim Cook, among others.