Modi govt allows Serum Institute to export 50 lakh Covishield doses under COVAX to 4 nations

The SII will commence Covid vaccine export under the COVAX programme from 23 November. Nepal, Tajikistan, Mozambique and Bangladesh are the 4 nations that will receive the doses.

A vial of the Covishield vaccine, developed by Oxford-Astrazeneca Plc. and manufactured by Serum Institute of India Ltd (file photo) | Photo: Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg

New Delhi: The Union government has allowed the Serum Institute of India to export 50 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield under the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine programme to Nepal, Tajikistan and Mozambique, official sources said on Sunday.

In addition to these three countries, the SII will also export Covishield to Bangladesh under COVAX, they said.

The SII will commence Covid vaccine export under the COVAX programme from November 23 and Nepal will receive the first lot of Covishield on November 24.

The government, earlier in October, had permitted the SII to export 10 lakh Covishield doses each to Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ programme.

In a recent communication to the Union Health Ministry, Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII) is learnt to have informed that the Pune-based firm has manufactured stock of 24,89,15,000 doses of Covishield and that the stock is increasing day by day.