India sees cooperation on COVID-19 vaccine with neighbours as duty: MEA

With the country set to roll out vaccine against coronavirus, the External Affairs Ministry on Friday said India has been at the forefront of global response in the common fight against the disease by providing medicines and other essential supplies and is ready to cooperate in providing vaccines to the neighbours.

"You would know that since the beginning, India has been at the forefront of the global response in this common fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. India sees international cooperation in this field, particularly with its neighbours, as its duty," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at the regular media briefing.

"We have held training sessions for experts from these countries on vaccine-related issues. As we roll out vaccines, Prime Minister's announcement that India's vaccine production and delivery capacity would be used for the benefit of all humty in fighting this crisis needs to be noted," he added.

Neighbouring countries have shown interest in the vaccines being produced by India. The country is conducting dry runs and is expected to roll out the world's largest vaccination drive in coming days.

India's drug regulator has given emergency use authorisation to two COVID-19 vaccines - 'Covaxin' developed indigenously by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and 'Covishield' being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

( With inputs from ANI )