Brazil rushes jet for vaccine, India says too early for export

NEW DELHI: Brazil appears to have jumped the gun by officially announcing the despatch of an aircraft to transport two million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from India, with New Delhi making it clear on Thursday that decisions on supplies to foreign countries will take more time.

A statement issued by Brazil’s foreign ministry on Wednesday said an Airbus A330neo aircraft of Azul Airlines equipped with special containers was set to fly back from Mumbai with two million doses of vaccine from Serum Institute of India and reach the country on January 16.

People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that any supplies contracted for by foreign countries, including Brazil, would be provided by India in due course though a timeframe for this is yet to be finalised.

“India stands by its commitment to help the world and all countries will get the vaccines,” one of the people cited above said.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s office announced on January 8 that he had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite a shipment of two million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.

Responding to queries, External affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said it was too early to discuss vaccine exports as India’s immunisation programme is set to be rolled out on Saturday.

“You would recall that the prime minister had already stated that India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used for the benefit of all humanity in fighting this crisis,” Srivastava said.

“It is too early to give a specific response on the supplies to other countries,” he added.