US to send 2 crore vaccines to India

Tribune News Service 

New Delhi, April 29 

The US will redirect from its own supplies two-crore doses of Astra-Zeneca vaccines, besides 20,000 treatment courses of Remdesivir.

The timeline for the dispatch of vaccines is still under negotiation while the antiviral drug will be sent early next week, said official sources.

Besides two US military aircraft that will arrive on Friday morning, a third will arrive on May 3. In the first consignment meant for the Indian Red Cross, the US is also sending from its own stock 36 millipore filters, each of which will enable the manufacture of five-lakh doses of Covishield vaccines in India and 17 oxygen generator plants.   

The Gulf countries are also sending supplies. The first shipment of 140 MT (metric tons) of liquid oxygen from the UAE is expected to land in the early hours of Friday. Bahrain is sending 40 MT of oxygen as gift through Indian Navy ships that are already in the region. Kuwait has indicated assistance of 185 MT of Liquid Medical Oxygen and several related equipment.