A health worker in Chennai prepares a dose of Covishield, a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. (Photo: AFP-Yonhap)
India, the world's largest vaccine producer, will resume exports and donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines in October.
Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced Monday the surplus vaccines will be used to fulfill India's "commitment towards the world for the collective fight against COVID-19."
The country was expected to be a key supplier for the world and the U.N.-backed initiative aimed at vaccine equity known as COVAX.
It began sending vaccines overseas in January but stopped in April to inoculate its own population amid a devastating surge in domestic infections.
Before then, India donated or sold 66 million vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries.
Although the minister did not specify how many doses would be exported, he said monthly coronavirus vaccine production had more than doubled since April and was expected to increase to 300 million doses next month.
Serum Institute of India, the largest maker of vaccines worldwide, is now producing an estimated 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine each month.
India, with a population of nearly 1.4 billion people, has so far given at least one vaccine dose to more than 62 percent of its eligible adult population and two doses to about 22 percent.
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