India's export of vaccine doses more than it has used for inoculation
India has supplied more vaccines to other countries than it has used to inoculate its own citizens until March 12, shows data provided by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Union Ministry of Health.
India has supplied more vaccines to other countries than it has used to inoculate its own citizens until March 12, shows data provided by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Union Ministry of Health.
According to the data provided by MEA’s Minister of State V Muraleedharan in Rajya Sabha, India has distributed about 5.85 crore vaccines to 74 countries across the world. On the other hand, it has so far completed the vaccination of just 3.71 crore of its citizens, according to daily data provided by the ministry of health.
According to the data, Bangladesh has received the highest, 90 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines from India. It is followed by Morocco (70 lakh) and the United Kingdom (50 lakh). Apart from Bangladesh, other neighbours too have received Indian vaccines, including Nepal (23.48 lakh), Sri Lanka (12.64 lakh), Afghanistan (9.64 lakh), and Bhutan (1.74 lakh), as of March 12.
Other significant countries that were supplied vaccines by India are Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, Kuwait, UAE, Iran and, Egypt. Along with these many other smaller islands have been supplied with the vaccines by India.
These supplies include both vaccine grants as well as sales by the manufacturers to these countries. Out of the total supplies, about half of the vaccines have been given as grants while the rest under commercial sales.
The countries that have bought vaccines from India include UK, Iran, Canada, Bangladesh, and 20 other countries. About 1.65 crore doses of COVAX were sold under these contracts, according to the ministry.
The information about rest of the vaccines has not been provided by the ministry in its written reply in Rajya Sabha.
India began its external supply of vaccines on January 20, 2021, as per the ministry. It has also stated in an official statement that foreign supplies are executed after factoring in the domestic production, requirements of national vaccination programme, and requests for the ‘Made in India’ vaccines.
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