The manufacturing potential of India’s vaccines is one of the greatest assets the world has today, UN Leader Antonio Guterres said as he congratulated India for providing nations around the world with COVID-19 doses to tackle the devastating global health crisis.
The UN Secretary-General also expressed hope that, as the world battles the pandemic, India will have all the resources needed to play a major role in ensuring a global vaccination programme becomes feasible.
“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,” Mr Guterres said.
He said during a press conference that India is supporting countries around the world by providing COVID-19 vaccines to tackle the global pandemic.
“And we strongly hope that India will have all the instruments that are necessary to play a major role in making sure that a global vaccination campaign becomes possible. I think that the production capacity of India is one of the best assets the world has today, and I hope the world understands that it must be fully used,” he said.
Mr Guterres added that during his briefing to the UN Member States on his 2021 goals, he reiterated that licenses should be made available to companies around the world in order to be able to manufacture some of the current vaccines.
Role of India In Global Health
“I know that, in India, there is a production, a very high level of production, both of Indian-developed vaccines, and I think there is a perspective, very important perspective, of also others. And we are in contact with Indian institutions for that.”
Under its “Vaccine Maitri” initiative, India airlifted more than 6 million COVID-19 doses to nine countries in Phase-I. Contractual supplies to different countries are also being carried out in a step-by-step way, and New Delhi has said it will supply the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility gradually.
COVAX is a global initiative to ensure rapid and equal access for all countries to COVID-19 vaccines, irrespective of their level of income.
COVAX announced this month that approximately 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford candidate are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2021, pending WHO emergency use listings, through existing agreements with the Serum Institute of India (SII) and AstraZeneca.
India has also been applauded by the Joe Biden administration for sending a host of South Asian nations critical supplies of the COVID19 vaccine, identifying India as “a true friend” who is using his pharma to support the global community.
We applaud the role of India in global health, sharing millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine in South Asia. Free shipments of the vaccine began in India w/Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh & Nepal & will spread to others. India is a true friend of its pharma to support the global community,” the US State Department”s account for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs had tweeted.
We applaud India’s role in global health, sharing millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine in South Asia. India's free shipments of vaccine began w/Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh & Nepal & will extend to others. India's a true friend using its pharma to help the global community.
— State_SCA (@State_SCA) January 22, 2021
Via urgent health and medical supplies, India has supported over 150 countries. With an initial donation of 10 million dollars, New Delhi pledged 15 million dollars to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and operationalized the COVID-19 Emergency Fund for its neighbours.
A major coronavirus vaccination campaign has already been introduced by India in which two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, are being distributed across the country to frontline health staff. In the first six months, the nation plans to vaccinate over 300 million people.
In line with its “Neighbourhood First” scheme, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have received India’s COVID-19 vaccines under grant assistance.
India also started commercial exports of COVID-19 vaccines and sent Brazil and Morocco two million doses each.
Science is succeeding, but solidarity is failing
Earlier in the day, underlining that the goal for 2021 is to respond to COVID-19, Mr Guterres told the General Assembly that vaccines are the world’s first great moral examination. He expressed concern that the world is falling short and vaccinations are reaching a handful of countries soon, while there are almost none in the poorest countries.
“Science is succeeding, but solidarity is failing. Governments have a responsibility to protect their populations, but COVID-19 cannot be beaten by one country at a time. If the virus is allowed to spread like wildfire in the global South, it will inevitably mutate; it is mutating, becoming more transmissible, more deadly and, eventually, more resistant to vaccines, ready to come back to hound the global North.”
“There is only one victor in a world of vaccine haves and vaccine have-nots: the virus itself.”
