Brazil President Bolsonaro thanks PM Modi for ‘sanjeevni booti’ against Covid with Hanuman pic

As a flight carrying two million doses of Covishield vaccine departed from the Mumbai airport for Brazil in the early hours of Friday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in a tweet, expressed gratitude and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for vaccine export.

“Namaskar, Prime Minister @narendramodi. Brazil feels honored to have a great partner to overcome a global obstacle by joining efforts. Thank you for assisting us with the vaccine exports from India to Brazil. Dhanyavaad!,” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted.

In his tweet, Bolsonaro shared an illustration showing Lord Hanuman carrying a mountain with vaccines from India to Brazil. The illustration is inspired by a tale in the Ramayana in which Lord Hanuman carries the entire Gandhamardan mountain to deliver Sanjeevani Booti, a magical life-saving herb, to save wounded Lakshman, Lord Ram’s brother.

India is one of the world’s biggest drugmakers, and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring coronavirus vaccines.

“The Covishield vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, departed from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) carrying 2 million doses to Brazil via Emirates Sky Cargo and 2 million doses to Morocco on Royal Air Maroc,” said a press release by CSMIA.

As of January 22, CSMIA has facilitated the movement of over 14.17 million doses of the Covishield vaccine across various international and domestic destinations, the press release mentioned.

This week, India also sent Covid-19 vaccines under grant assistance to Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Seychelles.

The official Twitter account of the US Department of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA) also shared a post lauding India’s role in global health by sharing millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccine in South Asia.

“We applaud India’s role in global health, sharing millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine in South Asia. India’s free shipments of the vaccine began w/Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh & Nepal & will extend to others. India’s a true friend using its pharma to help the global community,” the tweet read.