Vaccine Export To Continue Keeping In Mind Domestic Need: Foreign Ministry

Asserting that India has not imposed any export ban on anti-coronavirus vaccines, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said the supply of made-in-India vaccines abroad would continue keeping in mind the country's domestic requirements.

The MEA's assertion comes amid an ongoing debate over export of vaccines with some states having flagged a "shortage" of doses and the Centre maintaining that sufficient quantities of the jabs have been allocated to all the states and that many of them have been unable to inoculate all eligible beneficiaries.

Asked about the status of made-in-India vaccine export and whether domestic calls flagging vaccine shortages could impact the supply abroad, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "We have always said the supply of made-in-India vaccines abroad would continue taking into account our domestic requirements."

"Let me reiterate that there is no ban on export of vaccines. In fact, the website of our ministry is being regularly updated to reflect the supply of vaccines that are happening on a periodic basis," he said.

On a question on AstraZeneca sending notice to the Serum Institute of India for not fulfilling its international commitment under "GAVI" and "COVAX", Mr Bagchi said, "Regarding the issue specific to Serum institute, I would refer you to the company itself, they would be best placed to answer that question."

On the issue of procurement of raw materials from the US for vaccine manufacturing, the MEA spokesperson recalled that Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had informed during a media briefing that the issue had been taken up with the US.

India is one of the world's biggest drugmakers, and several countries have already approached it for procuring anti-coronavirus vaccines.