India has not imposed any export ban on Covid-19 vaccines: MEA

Indian government today once again clarified that it has not imposed any ban on the export of covid-19 vaccines.

During a media interaction Arindam Bagchi, MEA spokesperson said," We have not imposed any export ban on COVID-19 vaccines."

Arindam Bagchi said," Till now we have supplied vaccines to more than 80 countries across the world. We have already stated that our external supplies would be done keeping in mind our domestic requirements."

On the demand for the Indian vaccine, MEA spokesperson said, "Many countries across the world have been requesting for our vaccines. I don't have an exact number. But I can tell you that Vaccine Maitri has been extremely successful and very well-liked by our partners across the world."

"As on date, under the Vaccine Maitri initiative, we (India) have supplied 644 lakh doses to the global community. Of these, 104 lakh have been supplied as a grant. 357 lakh on a commercial basis. And 182 lakh through the COVAX initiative," Bagchi said.

Under the 'Vaccine Maitri' initiative, India has provided COVID-19 vaccines to over 80 countries under various categories.

Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar are among many countries that were aided by India during the pandemic.

Earlier ANI in a report has said that India has stopped shipments of the coronavirus vaccine from the Serum Institute to Canada have been put on hold for an indefinite period so as to cater to domestic needs.

The report claimed that according to Sputnik, New Delhi is concentrating on immunization at home due to a spike in domestic cases.

"We are working with the company on determining when the doses will arrive. We are expecting a delay in the shipment," Joelle Paquette, Director General, of Procurement Support Services Sector, told reporters on Thursday. "We do not have the information [about] when we're going to get the doses," she further added.

Paquette, however, noted Canada received assurances from the Serum Institute that they are committed to meeting their contractual obligations. As per the terms of a contract signed in February, Canada is set to receive an additional 1.5 million vaccine doses from the company by mid-May, in addition to the 500,000 doses received last month as reported by Sputnik.

They said given India's manufacturing capacity and requirements of national vaccination programmes, there may be a need to calibrate the supply schedules from time-to-time.

"We had stated that keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased rollout, India will continue to supply COVID-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner," said a source earlier denying any ban on export of covid-19 vaccines to other countries.

"This position remains unchanged. We have not imposed any ban on exports of vaccines unlike many other countries," the source added.

India started supplying the vaccine doses to foreign countries on January 20. The first countries to receive such vaccines were from the neighbourhood. So far, India supplied more than 60 million doses of Made-in-India vaccines to over 75 countries including through COVAX which is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.