India has provided over 48.1 mn vaccine doses to various countries: Govt

India has provided over 481 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines to various countries, the government informed Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

In written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said external supplies are done factoring in domestic production, requirements of the national vaccination programme and requests for the Made-in-India vaccines.

The supplies will continue in the coming weeks and months in a phased manner, depending on production and needs of the national vaccination programme, he said.

India started external supplies of Made-in-India vaccines on January 20, the minister said.

Supplies are being undertaken in three ways -- grant, commercial sales by the manufacturers and through vaccine alliance GAVI's COVAX facility.

According to details given by Muraleedharan of vaccines shipped from India till March 4, out of 481.06 lakh vaccine doses sent to various countries, 73.5lakh doses have been supplied as grant assistance, 288.4 lakh on commercial basis and 119.16 lakh doses for COVAX.