Coronavirus vaccine: Cambodia joins the list seeking India’s help in securing Covid-19 vaccine

Ever since India started the Coronavirus vaccination drive with its two indigenously manufactured medicines— Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum-Oxford’s Covishiled, other nations from across the world have started seeking supplies of vaccine from India for their vaccination programme. The latest is Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who has sought assistance from India for the provision of the Coronavirus vaccines to the country, news agency ANI reported.

According to reports published in the Cambodian media, the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is seeking help from India to secure Coronavirus vaccines. The reports in Cambodia media also mentioned that the country sought help from India as it is one of the few countries in the world to have been successful in producing its own Coronavirus vaccine. The media reports also mentioned that India is going to vaccinate more than 300 million of its population by the end of the year.

India has already committed to sending more than 20 lakh doses of Coronavirus vaccine to its neighbour Bangladesh; the vaccine, Covishield is developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and will be sent to Bangladesh on January 20. Reports of Pakistan exploring options to get hold of the Indian manufactured Coronavirus vaccines have also emerged. With tensions between India and Pakistan running high, the northern neighbour is exploring various options to get the Indian manufactured vaccine including by purchasing from third countries.

Considerable pressure has also been mounted on Indian authorities by its close neighbours, including Nepal and Bhutan which don’t have domestic manufacturing capabilities. According to media reports, the Indian authorities have assured its neighbours of timely delivery of Coronavirus vaccine to their population.