New Delhi: Welcoming India’s decision to resume the export of Covid-19 vaccines, GAVI has said that it wanted to engage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and the Serum Institute of India (SII) to understand the impact on their supply schedule.
“We welcome news reports that India is to resume exports of COVID-19 vaccines to the rest of the world,” a GAVI spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said this could have an immense positive impact on both health security within India as well as globally.
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“Our priority right now is to engage with Government of India and Serum Institute of India to understand the impact this will have on our supply schedule, as we race to protect as many vulnerable people as we can from COVID-19,” the spokesperson added.
Asserting “things are positive”, the spokesperson further said: “But I do not know when can it fructify - hopefully near first week of October.”
GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries.
Earlier on Monday, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said India will under the “Vaccine Maitri” programme resume the export of surplus COVID-19 vaccines in the fourth quarter of this year to meet its commitment to the COVAX global pool.
Mandaviya said the vaccines' surplus supply will be used to fulfill India’s commitment towards the world for the collective fight against the coronavirus.
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He, however, added the government’s topmost priority is to vaccinate its own citizens.
The Central government had earlier in March halted the export of Covid-19 vaccines due to the sharp surge in cases of infection in the country.