India sends over 600k vaccine doses to Sri Lanka, Bahrain

NEW DELHI: India dispatched 600,000 doses of vaccines as grant assistance for Sri Lanka and Bahrain under its “Vaccine Maitri” initiative on Thursday, a day after Nepal and Myanmar launched their inoculation drives with made-in-india Covid-19 vaccines.

Two separate flights transported 500,000 doses to Sri Lanka and 100,000 doses to Bahrain as part of India’s plans to gift the Astrazeneca vaccine to friendly countries in the neighbourhood and key partners in other regions. The supplies to Bahrain marked the first such aid to a country in West Asia, which India sees as part of its extended neighbourhood. Bahrain is home to 350,000 Indians, the largest expatriate community, and New Delhi had facilitated the travel of Indian medical professionals to Manama last year to cope with the pandemic.

Indian high commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay offered prayers at Gangaramaya Temple and handed over the vaccines to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa said on Twitter: “Received 500,000 #COVID-19 vaccines provided by #peopleofindia at #BIA today (28). Thank you! PM Shri @narendramodi & #peopleofindia for the generosity shown towards #Peopleofsrilanka at this time in need.” Since the launch of the Vaccine Maitri (Vaccine Friendship) initiative on January 20, India has gifted vaccines to Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Seychelles, and Mauritius. “We plan to gift further quantities to Oman (100,000 doses)...,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.