NEW DELHI — India will export 8 million coronavirus
vaccine jabs by the end of October after ending its ban on sending doses
abroad, a top foreign ministry official said Saturday.
اضافة اعلان
Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to resume exports at a
meeting of leaders from the so-called Quad in Washington as India, Japan,
Australia, and the US try to counter growing Chinese influence across the
Asia-Pacific region.
Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters on
Saturday that most of the eight million doses of the Johnson & Johnson
single-shot vaccine will be sent to Asia-Pacific countries.
"This would be ready by the end of October. This is an
immediate delivery, from the Quad into the Indo-Pacific region," Shringla
told reporters.
India is one of the world's
biggest vaccine producers and
had pledged earlier this year to export one billion COVID-19 jabs by December
2022.
But New Delhi halted exports in May after a devastating
coronavirus wave ravaged the country.
India lifted its vaccine export ban this week with new
COVID-19 infections and deaths slowing down.
The country suffered weeks of vaccine shortages as a
coronavirus surge between March and May killed at least 250,000 and infected
tens of millions of people.
It has now administered nearly 840 million vaccine doses.
Nearly half of the adult population has had at least one jab and with 16
percent receiving a second dose.
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