India on Wednesday sent its first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccines to Bhutan and the Maldives, Anurag Srivastava, a spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2021) India on Wednesday sent its first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccines to Bhutan and the Maldives, Anurag Srivastava, a spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said.
"India begins supply of Covid vaccines to its neighbouring and key partner countries," Srivastava wrote on Twitter, adding that that the first consignments took off for Bhutan and Maldives.
India is sending the Covishield vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca/Oxford University and produced by Serum Institute of India, to the neighboring nations. In total, 100,000 doses were sent to the Maldives and 150,000 to Bhutan on Wednesday. India has launched the Vaccine Maitri initiative and aims to assist neighboring nations by providing coronavirus vaccine for free.
"Indian vaccines reach Maldives, reflects our special friendship. #VaccineMaitri," Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar tweeted.
President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed thanked India for "a gift" and mentioned that New Delhi has always been the first to assist his country during times of need.
"#VaccineMaitri begins. Consignment arrives in Bhutan. Another example of #NeighbourhoodFirst," the Indian top diplomat said in another tweet.
Prime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering confirmed that vaccine doses from India arrived.
India also plans to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles later this week.
On January 16, India started the world's largest COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The first wave of vaccinations, intended for health care and essential workers, is expected to cover some 30 million people. The second wave, inoculating people over the age of 50, may cover some 270 million.
India is in second place in the world in the number of people infected with the coronavirus. , The country confirmed over 10.5 million COVID-19 cases, with 152,718 deaths, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health. On Wednesday, the number of the vaccinated Indians stood at 674,835.
