India will produce five billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of the next year, not only for its own citizens, but for the people around the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the leaders of the other G20 nations on Saturday.
The Prime Minister, however, underlined that it would be easier for New Delhi to help other countries with the Covid-19 vaccines when the World Health Organization (WHO) would approve the Covaxin developed and produced by India's Bharat Biotech, and put it on the Emergency Use List.
Modi is currently on a tour to Rome to take part in the G20 summit, which is being hosted by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
As he participated in the G20 session on global health and global economy in Rome, the Prime Minister highlighted the success of his government in administering the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccines to over a billion people in India. Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla quoted the Prime Minister saying that India would support the endeavours by the international community to address the problem of vaccine inequity by supplying Covid-19 jabs to other developing nations. Modi also referred to India’s medical supplies to over 150 countries around the world since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Shringla told journalists in Rome.
The Prime Minister called upon the G20 nations to ensure mutual recognition of the Covid-19 vaccines developed or being developed and the certificates issued to the inoculated people by the authorities in countries around the world.
He also referred to India’s contribution to the fight against pandemic.
The Modi government sent out 107.15 lakh doses of the Made-in-India vaccines to foreign nations as grant till April 22 this year, in addition to the 357.92 lakh doses exported commercially and 198.628 lakh doses contributed to the COVAX, an initiative launched by the WHO for equitable distribution of the antidote against the SARS-CoV-2 infection.
New Delhi paused its “Vaccine-Maitri” initiative after the shortage of the jabs came to the fore during the brutal second Covid-19 wave in India and slowed down the inoculation programme in the country itself. It, however, restarted sending out vaccines to other countries early this month.
Shringla quoted the Prime Minister calling upon the G20 nations to make India a partner in diversifying the supply chains in the post-Covid-19 era. He noted that India remained a trusted partner for the world despite challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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