Centre: India to resume export of Covid jabs under Vaccine Maitri in October

The government on Monday said that India will resume the export of Covid-19 vaccines under the Vaccine Maitri initiative in October.

The announcement comes ahead of PM Modi’s visit to Washington starting Tuesday where vaccines are likely to be discussed at the Quad summit

Addressing the media, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that India will resume the export of coronavirus vaccines in order to fulfill its commitment towards COVAX.

The government had supplied over 66 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to more than 70 countries as part of the Vaccine Maitri initiative before halting it owing to the sharp surge in cases of infection back home.  External Affairs Minister (EAM) Jaishankar had slammed critics of initiative, labeling them as ‘non-serious, irresponsible’

Mandaviya added that more than 30 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be produced in India in the month of October alone and over 100 crore doses will be produced in the fourth quarter of this year

The government wants to vaccinate all of its 94.4 crore adults by December and has so far given at least one dose to 61 per cent of them.