NEW DELHI, Feb 5: India has so far exported Corona vaccines to 15 countries in the world, the health minister Harsh Vardhan told the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Relying to a question, Vardhan said 22 countries have sought India’s vaccines. To some nations India had given vaccines in the form of grant. He said while 56 lakh doses have been given as grants, 105 lakh doses have been supplied under contracts.
The minister said an expert group on vaccines was functioning under the supervision of the Prime Minister and under the group, the vaccination process was being carried out. About 5 million people have so far been vaccinated and vaccination of frontline workers had also begun this week.
Pointing out that two vaccines Covishield and Covaxin have so far been given permission for emergency use, he said work was under way on seven other vaccine candidates.
Asked when would the phase 1 of vaccination end, Dr. Vardhan said it was not possible to give a fixed date as of now but the next phase was expected to begin from the third week of March.
(Manas Dasgupta)