WEB DESK
One million doses of a COVID vaccine from India reached to Nepal as a gift under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ Initiative. Nepal health minister Hridayesh Tripathi said the vaccine gifted by India will be given to health workers and other front-line personnel within a week to 10 days.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed on Twitter that Nepal received Indian vaccines. The Minister said in another tweet, along with a photograph of Air India flight that carried the consignments to Dhaka, Touchdown in Dhaka. ‘Vaccine Maitri’ reaffirms the highest priority accorded by India to relations with Bangladesh.
Yesterday India had sent 150,000 doses of ‘Covisheild’ vaccines to Bhutan and 100,000 doses to the Maldives. In a major announcement, Indian Government said on Tuesday that it will send COVID-19 vaccines to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles from Wednesday and supplies to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius will commence after confirmation of necessary regulatory clearances.
India is one of the world’s biggest drugmakers, and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the Coronavirus vaccines.
The MEA said it will ensure that domestic manufacturers will have adequate stocks to meet domestic requirements while supplying abroad. India had earlier supplied hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and paracetamol tablets, as well as diagnostic kits, ventilators, masks, gloves and other medical supplies to a large number of countries to help them deal with the pandemic.