"Of course there is a lot of interest in vaccines," said the Indian diplomat, in an interview with Lusa, adding that there have already been contacts between the two countries in this regard and the request is being evaluated.
"They approached us and the Indian government is examining" the request, she said, adding that India has already donated many vaccines to the Covax initiative and several African countries are in negotiations with India in this regard.
"India first has to take care of its citizens, our population of 1.3 billion people, but the Government has ensured that it will play an important role in providing vaccines to almost all countries in the world," said Pratibha. Parkar.
India has a flourishing pharmaceutical industry, associated with the production of low-cost generic drugs, and is also producing vaccines against covid-19, which will be exported to several countries, including Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.
In addition to the national vaccines, Covaxin, produced in Bharat Biotech's laboratories, the country also produces vaccines from Astrazeneca at Instituto Sérum (Covishield), having already administered around 12 million doses of the two approved vaccines.
The pharmaceutical and health sector is one of the areas of cooperation that India wants to intensify with Angola, according to the ambassador, who presented credential letters to the head of state, João Lourenço, on 22 October last year.
Angola plans to vaccinate 53 percent of the population against covid-19, for a total of 16, 4 million people, in two phases, confirmed this week in Luanda, the minister of Health, Sílvia Lutucuta.
In the first phase, 6.4 million inhabitants will be vaccinated and in the second, another 10 million. The Government's forecast is to receive, in two phases, about 15 million doses of the vaccine against the disease.
