Categories: Health

India to resume vaccine exports next month as production quadruples

<p>
India will resume export and donations of surplus vaccines from next month, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Monday.</p>
<p>
The renewed export drive, known as 'Vaccine Maitri' will give first priority to neighbouring countries, Mr Mandaviya said.</p>
<p>
Since April, India’s vaccine production has more than doubled and is now set to quadruple to over 300 million doses next month.</p>
<p>
Only surplus stocks will be exported, the minister added.</p>
<p>
India had donated or sold 6.6 crore doses to nearly 100 countries before exports were stopped.</p>
<p>
The decision comes a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for his trip to the USA where he will attend the UN General Assembly meeting and Indo-Pacific Quad summit being convened by US President Joe Biden.</p>
<p>
India, the world's biggest maker of vaccines overall, stopped vaccine exports in April to focus on inoculating its own population due to the devastating second wave of coronavirus infections that suddenly hit the country.</p>
<p>
This had come as a major setback to the global community amid the acute shortage of vaccines as India had exported or gifted vaccines to over 100 countries to help them fight the deadly pandemic.</p>
<p>
According to the WHO, the poor countries have received only 2% of the total vaccines produced in the world and are lagging behind in their inoculation drive against the pandemic.</p>
<p>
The Indian government wants to vaccinate the country’s entire adult population of 94.4 crore by December and has so far given at least one dose to 61 per cent of them.</p>

IN Bureau

Recent Posts

India spent $14 tn on investments since Independence, more than half of it spent in last 10 yrs: Report

India's economic growth story has witnessed a remarkable surge in investment spending, with over half…

20 minutes ago

India should be branded as a ‘Responsible Capitalist’ nation: Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has called for branding India as a "Responsible Capitalist" nation, emphasizing…

1 hour ago

Taiwan reports hike in Chinese military activity

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) reported Chinese military activity on Saturday and detected 25…

1 hour ago

VINBAX 2024: Vietnam-India bilateral army exercise concludes at Kaushalya Dam

The fifth edition of the historic Indo-Vietnam Joint Field Training Exercise, VINBAX-2024, successfully concluded its…

18 hours ago

India-Russia strengthen defence ties at 22nd Working Group meeting on military technical cooperation

The 22nd meeting of the India-Russia Working Group on Military technical cooperation and defence industry…

18 hours ago

“I want to have strong representation of India at World Nuclear Exhibition 2025”: Sylvie Bermann

Sylvie Bermann, President of the World Nuclear Exhibition expressed confidence in India's nuclear supply chain…

19 hours ago