India began shipping of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa using the COVAX facility. Anurag Srivastava, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, described it as a “commitment to help the world with COVID-19 vaccines.”
COVAX is an abbreviation for COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access which is a global initiative directed towards equal access to COVID-19 vaccines led by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and others.
Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs declared that India intends to provide 1 crore (10 million) vaccine doses to Africa and 10 lakh to United Nations health workers under GAVI’s COVAX facility.
Serum Institute of India on Tuesday 23rd February despatched its first batch of vaccine shots for the COVAX global immunization program. The WHO South-East Asia then tweeted photos of the first shipment being loaded onto a truck at Serum’s manufacturing facility in Pune.
The first batch of #COVID19 vaccines for #COVAX rolled out from @SerumInstIndia, in Pune, on Tuesday morning. pic.twitter.com/8HoioR8Zvi
— WHO South-East Asia (@WHOSEARO) February 23, 2021
On Thursday 25th February, news agency ANI shared images of the vaccines getting stored on an airplane to be sent to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, a country in West Africa from Mumbai, Maharashtra.
