India will be a "significant recipient" of US vaccines, the country's envoy in US has said as President Joe Biden announced details of his administration's decision to share 2.5 crore COVID-19 shots to countries across the globe that have been facing vaccine shortages.
President Biden on Thursday said that the US will allocate 75 per cent - nearly 1.9 crore of the first tranche of 2.5 crore doses - of unused COVID-19 vaccines from its stockpile through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa.
The move is part of his administration's framework for sharing 80 million (8 crore) vaccines globally by the end of June.
According to the White House, nearly 19 million vaccine doses will be shared through COVAX, a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
"India will be a significant recipient of US vaccines as India has been included in both the identified categories in the allocation announced today- direct supply to neighbours and partner countries, and under the COVAX initiative," India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, told PTI.