India is engaged with US companies to procure Covid vaccines, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The statement comes nearly three weeks after External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar's visit to the US.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "We remain engaged with US entities on the prospect of procuring vaccines from the US and also subsequent manufacturing in India."
"We have noted an announcement by the US of its intention to make some vaccines available to other countries. All vaccines have to be procured as per our guidelines," he added.
Last week, the US announced its decision to donate 500 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine to developing nations.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also told reporters that the details of all indigenous vaccines supplied overseas as part of the 'Vaccine Maitri' initiative are available on the ministry's website.
According to the MEA website, India supplied 1.07 crore doses of Made in India Covid vaccines to other countries as grants.
Arindam Bagchi also referred to Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla's remarks that we need to purpose the vaccines developed in India towards our own needs.
Asked about how India views recent clashes between Israel and Palestine, the MEA spokesperson said, "We are closely following developments. On May 16, our Permanent Representative at the United Nations made a detailed statement on the subject. We expect to make a statement at UNGA [United Nations General Assembly] in the next day or two when the issue comes up."
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, during the press conference on Thursday, also responded to questions about the disengagement in Ladakh. "The External Affairs Minister conveyed to his Chinese counterpart that disengagement remained unfinished and that it should be completed at the earliest," he said.