New Delhi: The Central government plans to send doses of coronavirus vaccines to neighbouring nations as part of vaccine diplomacy in the coming weeks.
Reports said Nepal, Maldives, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Mauritius are likely to get the benefit first.
The concerned countries will get the vaccine on a payment basis from either Bharat Biotech or the Serum Institute of India.
Brazil’s Fiocruz Institute has also signed up a deal with Pune’s Serum Institute. UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, South Africa have followed suit.
Bangladesh and Myanmar have already declared that it has signed up with Serum Institute for vaccines. India has also promised the Sri Lankan leadership to make the vaccines available to them.
Brazil has ordered vaccines from Bharat Biotech after its regulating agency, ANVISA said the Chinese vaccine Sinovac had only a 50 per cent efficacy rate.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite a shipment of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine amid broader delays to the vaccine’s arrival in Brazil.
