India sees cooperation with neighbours on Covid-19 vaccine as 'its duty'

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said the country is ready to cooperate in providing Covid-19 vaccines to its neighbours.

“India has been at the forefront of the global response in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. India sees international cooperation in this field, particularly with neighbours, as its duty,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at a media briefing, reports ANI news.

He added that India has held training sessions for experts from these countries on vaccine related issues, and the Indian prime minister’s announcement that the country’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used for humanity will be kept in mind while vaccines are rolled out.

In November, Bangladesh signed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India, through which Beximco Pharma will avail 30 million doses of the Covishield vaccine.

In the initial six months of the first phase, the SII is supposed to provide five million vaccine doses per month to Bangladesh through Beximco.