In a significant development, made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines will be provided to Pakistan under the international humanitarian conventions, wherein countries are obliged to help enemy countries even if stringent sanctions are in place, reports Indian Express.
Pakistan will receive these vaccines through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility, which is the global alliance for supplying vaccines across the world.
However, the supply of the vaccines could take some time as logistics have to be sorted out and the approvals are yet to come through. It is expected that the vaccine doses will go directly from India to Pakistan.
Pakistan’s drug regulator, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, had already approved Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in January this year.
Under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ (Vaccine Friendship) policy, India has supplied vaccines to at least 65 countries in the form of grants (free of cost) and through commercial sales.
As per data made available by the Ministry of External Affairs, 579.19 lakh doses have been supplied in all − of which 163 lakh doses have been supplied under COVAX, 77 lakh doses under grant and 338 lakh doses under commercial deals.
With PM Modi’s policy of “Neighbourhood First”, Bangladesh, with 90 lakh doses, tops the list of countries that have got vaccines.
Pakistan, which is on the brink of economic collapse, is getting vaccine doses through the COVAX facility which is an alliance set up by Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and World Health Organization in April last year.
Under this alliance, free vaccines are provided for 20 per cent of the population in around 190 countries, including Pakistan.
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