India has decided to export 8.1 lakh doses of Covaxin to Oman, Mongolia, Myanmar, Bahrain, Mauritius, the Philippines and the Maldives as a goodwill gesture, people in the know said. Government sources said Serum would supply a few lakh doses of Covishield to the Seychelles, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
How do you vaccinate a country of 1.3 billion? A gargantuan task indeed. That’s the challenge facing India as it launched a vaccination programme on January 16 to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Size and numbers have never intimidated India. After all, the country has been successfully running the world’s largest democratic exercise for more than seven decades. So the COVID-19 vaccination programme shouldn’t be too difficult despite the enormous hurdles.
Much like the rest of the world, India has been reeling from the onslaught of the coronavirus. COVID-19 infections have surged so much that India is second only to the United States with more than 10.5 million cases and over 150,000 deaths. The economy also has taken a hit. The country applied lockdowns early last year, yet the infections keep soaring. So vaccination offers the best solution to prevent the spread of the virus.
Earlier Bharat Biotech had received a purchase order for 55 lakh doses of Covaxin from the Centre ahead of the January 16 rollout of the inoculation drive