United Nations: India’s COVID-19 vaccine production capacity is one of the best assets the world has today, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said. He applauded India for supplying COVID-19 vaccine doses to nations around the world to combat the catastrophic global health crisis. The UN Secretary-General also expressed hope that India will have all instruments necessary to play a major role in ensuring a global vaccination campaign becomes possible.
“I would like to say how much we count on India. I mean, India has one of the most advanced pharmaceutical industries. India played a very important role in the production of generics for use that was a very important element of democratisation of access to medicines all over the world,” Guterres said.
Guterres was responding to a question by this agency during a press briefing here Thursday. He harped on India helping countries around the world in the fight against the global pandemic by supplying COVID-19 vaccines.
“We strongly hope that India will have all the instruments to play a major role in ensuring global vaccination campaign becomes possible. I think the production capacity of India is one of the best assets the world has today. I hope the world understands that it must be fully used,” added the UN chief.
Guterres added that he reiterated during his briefing to the UN Member States on his priorities for 2021. He said that licenses should be made available for companies around the world to be able to produce some of the vaccines that already exist.
“I know that, in India, there is a production, a very high level of production, both of Indian-developed vaccines. I think there is a perspective, very important perspective, of also others. And we are in contact with Indian institutions for that,” Guterres stated.
India has airlifted more than six million COVID-19 doses to nine countries in Phase-I under its initiative termed ‘Vaccine Maitri’. Contractual supplies to various countries are also being undertaken in a phased manner. New Delhi has said it will gradually supply to the COVAX facility of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
COVAX is the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level.
This month, COVAX had announced that, pending WHO emergency use listings, nearly 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford candidate are anticipated to be available in the first quarter of 2021, via existing agreements with the Serum Institute of India (SII) and AstraZeneca.
The Joe Biden administration has also applauded India for sending crucial supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine to a host of South Asian nations. It has described India as ‘a true friend’ who is using its pharma to help the global community.
“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 with Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal and will extend to others. India’s a true friend using its pharma to help the global community,” the US State Department’s account for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs had tweeted.
India has assisted more than 150 countries through urgent health and medical supplies. New Delhi has pledged 15 million dollars for GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and operationalised the COVID-19 Emergency Fund for its neighbours with an initial contribution of 10 million dollars.
India has already rolled out a massive coronavirus vaccination drive under which two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, are being administered to frontline health workers across India. It plans to vaccinate about 300 million citizens in the first six months.