India dispatches Covishield vaccines to Bahrain, Sri Lanka

Mumbai , January 28 : After providing coronavirus vaccines to several countries including Bangladesh, Nepal and Maldives, India on Thursday established its position as a reliable partner in COVID-19 assistance by dispatching Covishield vaccines to Bahrain and Sri Lanka.

A consignment of 50,400 doses of coronavirus vaccines will be provided by India to Sri Lanka under the Vaccine Maitri initiative, while Bahrain will receive get 10,800 doses. The Covishield vaccine developed by Serum Institute of India (SII) was loaded to the cargo aircraft at Mumbai and left as per schedule at 7:55 am for Manama.

The vaccine consignment for Colombo was delayed for 15 minutes and is scheduled to leave at 9:00 am.

Bahrain had earlier approved Covishield to support its efforts towards vaccinating members at risk of developing complications from COVID-19.

Meanwhile, India has supplied COVID-19 vaccines to neighbouring countries including Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh under Neighbourhood First policy.

India's Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday had announced vaccine rollout for several countries from January 20.

India sees international cooperation in the area of fight against COVID-19 pandemic as its duty; New Delhi has played the role of the first responder in the region.