Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro thanked Prime Minister Modi as the first shipment of the COVID vaccine arrived at Brazil from India. Taking to Twitter, he posted a picture of Lord Hanuman delivering the ‘Sanjeevani Bhooti’, which the COVID vaccine is depicted as in the image, from India to Brazil. ‘Sanjeevani Bhooti’ is the medicine Lord Hanuman delivered for Lakshmana, the legendary warrior and brother of Lord Ram when he was injured in battle in the Indian epic Ramayana.
“Namaskar, Prime Minister @narendramodi Brazil feels honoured to have a great partner to overcome a global obstacle by joining efforts. Thank you for assisting us with the vaccines exports from India to Brazil,” said Bolsonaro on Twitter. Bolsonaro was the Chief Guest at the 70th Republic Day celebrations of India in 2020. Both countries are also part of the BRICS grouping.
Over two million doses of Covishield vaccine were sent on two flights to Brazil and Morocco on Friday, which reached the South American nation later that day. Similarly, 1,50,000 doses of Covisheild vaccine to Bhutan and 1,00,000 doses to the Maldives were sent earlier this week, as a goodwill gesture. The Indian government also sent two million doses of Covisheild vaccine to Bangladesh and one million doses to Nepal under grants assistance, while a consignment containing 1.5 million doses was sent to Myanmar, 50,000 doses to Seychelles on Friday.
It is important to note that while Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield is being manufactured by the Serum Institute, Covaxin is being produced by Bharat Biotech. This is the same Serum Institute that recently had a fire accident.