India will start exporting coronavirus vaccine within 15 days of the start of vaccination, a foreign ministry official said.
The BBC quoted the official as saying on Tuesday (January 5).
The official said reports that the vaccine being manufactured by India would be banned were untrue.
India will produce about 80 percent of the world's vaccines. He also said that many countries are eagerly waiting to get this vaccine made in India.
India approved the emergency use of two vaccines for vaccination this January. They have set a target of vaccinating about 300 million people by July.
The Drug Control General of India (DCGI), India's drug regulator, has given the green light to the use of two vaccines, the Covishield invented by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and the Covaxin by local India Biotech.
The foreign ministry official added that India had not deviated from its promises and plans to help other countries on the corona vaccine.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC he would allow some doses to be exported to neighboring South Asian countries within 15 days of the vaccine being administered. Some of these invoices we will give as gifts. Others will be allowed to be exported at almost the price purchased by the Government of India.
India is fully aware of its commitment as a neighbor and the world's largest vaccine maker.
India's Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has said that India plans to introduce the Covid-19 vaccine by the middle of this month.
He told reporters in Delhi that the vaccine would be administered within 10 days from the date of approval for emergency use (January 3).
Meanwhile, Adar Punawala, the organization’s chief executive officer (CEO), has tried to dispel confusion over the export of the Oxford-AstraZeneca corona vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.
Earlier, Adar Punawala was quoted in the media as saying that India would not allow him to export his vaccine for several months. He told the Associated Press that his company would not be able to export the vaccine and sell it in the private market.
However, he told the BBC today that his organization have been allowed to export the vaccine and hoped to supply it in the next few weeks as per agreements with Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.