Omicron variant: Govt to supply made-in-India vaccines to African countries

The Government of India (GoI) has decided to support countries affected by the Omicron variant of new coronavirus in South Africa by providing them supplies of Made-in-India vaccines.These supplies can be undertaken either via the WHO’s COVAX initiative or through bilateral arrangements.

The government has cleared orders placed so far for the supplies of Covishield to Malawi, Ethiopia, Zambia, Mozambique, Guinea and Lesotho as well as supplies of Covaxin to Botswana via the COVAX initiative. The Centre will also supply life-saving drugs, test kits, gloves, PPE kits and medical equipment like ventilators as per requirement.

“In this regard, the Government has cleared all orders placed so far by COVAX for supplies of COVISHIELD vaccines including to African countries like Malawi, Ethiopia, Zambia, Mozambique, Guinea and Lesotho. We have also cleared supplies of COVAXIN to Botswana. Any new requirement projected either bilaterally through COVAX will be considered expeditiously,” the Ministry of External Affairs was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The MEA has also promised that Indian institutions will cooperate with their African counterparts in areas of genomic surveillance and virus characterisation-related research work.

Meanwhile, chairman of India’s COVID-19 Task Force Dr NK Arora said that a comprehensive policy on additional and booster doses for COVID-19 will be made public in the next 2 weeks. “There is a difference between booster dose and additional dose. A booster dose is given in a predefined period after two primary doses. Whereas, an additional dose is only given to those people who have problems with their immune function even after the primary doses. If a person’s immune function is not appropriately built you give them an additional dose. So these are two different things,” Dr Arora explained.

 (With agency inputs)

Also read: Govt policy on booster shots likely in coming weeks: Dr NK Arora