After Trudeau’s Request, India In Principle Approves Supply Of Half-A-Million Covishield Vaccines To Canada

In a bid to assist Canada's fight against COVID-19 pandemic and aid the nation's drive to vaccinate its population against the infection, India has in principle approved supply of half-a-million doses of Covishield vaccine to the country in February, reports Hindustan Times.

The development comes days after Canadian Prime Minister (PM) Justin Trudeau dialled PM Narendra Modi to request supplies of the vaccine which is being manufactured by Pune based Serum Institute of India (SII).

Meanwhile, India has also approved supply of vaccines to the armies of friendly nations with Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh top on its priority list. The supplies would be led by the Indian armed forces as a sign of deepening defence cooperation.

These supplies from the Indian Army to the friendly nations will include a mix of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines, the same way as the vaccination is being pursued among the Indian Army's frontline troopers.

It should be noted that while Covishield is being manufactured by SII, it has been developed by British pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca in a collaboration with the University of Oxford.

Meanwhile, Covaxin has been indigenously developed by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Pune based National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).