UK to give away 100 million doses of COVID vaccine, India not on list of beneficiaries

NEW DELHI: India will not be a part of the list of countries getting vaccine doses from the United Kingdom, which announced that it will give away 100 million doses to Commonwealth and other Asian countries by June 2022.

“We have seen the UK government’s announcement of giving vaccines to Commonwealth and Asian countries. As far as I am aware, we are not on that list,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday.

The UK announced on Wednesday that it would begin donating doses of vaccine soon and the initial 9 million doses would be given to Jamaica, Kenya and other Asian countries, starting Friday.

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“They will go to countries, vulnerable places like Laos and Cambodia, partners like Indonesia, Malaysia (and) a range of Commonwealth countries from Kenya to Jamaica. This demonstrates we're not just doing it because it's in our own interest. It shows global Britain as a life-saving force for good in the world,” UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

London aims to donate around 30 million of the 100 million doses by December 2021 and 80 per cent of the total donations would be done through the Covax programme while the remaining would be given directly to countries.

According to the UK government, 5 million of the initial donations through Covax would be done to lower-income countries. According to the UK Foreign Office, the allocation prioritises delivering vaccines to people who most need them. Indonesia, which is seeing a spurt in coronavirus cases, is set to get 6 lakh doses while Jamaica will get 3 lakh doses.