Union Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar on Sunday (January 31) informed that Egypt has received the shipment of 'Made-in-India' coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines.
The minister shared a photo of the COVID-19 vaccine shipment, captioned, "Beyond the neighbourhood, now to the Nile."
Being in the centre of global vaccine manufacturing, India has been steadily ramping up production of COVID-19 shots amid an increasing demand from various nations to inoculate their respective populations. The country is home to the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer and one of the largest pharmeceutical manufacturing capacities.
As such, the central government is either supplying or has plans to supply vaccines in the coming days to at least 24 countries around the world, which include Egypt, Algeria, Nicaragua, and Kuwait, among others.
As India's own COVID-19 inoculation drive completes 15 days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the Made-in-India vaccine is, of course, a symbol of India's self-reliance and a symbol of her self-pride.
"In this vaccination programme, you must have noticed something more. During the moment of crisis, India is able to serve the world today since it is capable, self-reliant in the field of medicines and vaccines. The same thought underpins the Atmanirbhar Bharat Campaign. The more India is capable, the more will she serve humanity; correspondingly, the world will benefit more."
India launched its vaccination drive against Covid-19 on January 16 and aims to first inoculate three crore health and frontline workers. While so far only healthcare workers were getting inoculated, now frontline workers will also start getting the doses from the first week of February.
(With inputs from agencies)