Indian officials said the neighboring country will provide one million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for Afghanistan, the CNN-News18 reports, adding the first shipment with 500,000 doses will arrive today while a second with another half is likely to arrive in mid-January.
This will be the first COVID-19 vaccine shipment that India is sending to Afghanistan since the return of the Islamic Emirate to power and formation of the new government.
The neighboring country had also previously provided Afghanistan with COVID-19 vaccine shots.
The vaccine doses are being sent to Afghanistan as part of the government’s Vaccine Maitri program, a diplomatic move to gift and supply Indian-produced vaccines to low-income and developing countries across the globe.
Afghanistan has registered more than 158,000 infections and over 7,350 deaths since the outbreak entered the country.
The economy on the brink of collapse also affected the country’s health sector.
International donors withdrew funds that Afghanistan’s healthcare system depended on following the return of the Islamic Emirate to power.
Washington froze about $10 billion of the country’s reserves, worsening the financial crunch.
Follow TKG on Twitter & Facebook