New Delhi (NVI): The government of India approved the supply of 1 lakh doses of its COVID-19 vaccines to Cambodia on urgent basis, taking the country’s vaccine diplomacy one step further.
The vaccine to the southeast Asian country will be supplied by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII).
In an official statement, the Embassy of India in Phnom Penh said that, the decision is a testament to India’s appreciation for Cambodia as an important partner and its concern for the health and prosperity of the people of Cambodia.
“The India Embassy in Phnom Penh is pleased to announce that the Government of India has approved the supply of 1,00,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the Kingdom of Cambodia on an urgent basis” the Embassy said.
It added that, the supply is in response to Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen’s request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for assistance in supply of COVID-19 vaccines.
“Supply has been assured through the Serum Institute of India (SII) despite innumerable competing requests from partner countries and our commitment to our domestic population,” the Embassy noted.
India approves 100 000 does of Covid -19 vaccines to Cambodia https://t.co/7SXC4GmrRa@IndianDiplomacy @MOS_MEA @MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar @devyani_K pic.twitter.com/KkUpG1ZDQC
— India in Cambodia (@indembcam) February 6, 2021
The vaccine, Oxford-Astrazeneca’s Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, which was approved for use by the government’s drug regulatory board recently will be delivered to Combodia in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far, India has supplied consignment of its vaccine to neighbouring countries including Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Brazil, Morocco, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Algeria, Kuwait and South Africa.
Meanwhile, Combodia has so far registered 472 coronavirus cases with no deaths, the John Hopkins University data shows.
-RJV
