As India enters the final leg of its fight against COVID-19, foreign leaders have showered praise upon the Narendra Modi-led government. For the uninitiated, India last week approved two vaccines for emergency usage - Covishield and Covaxin. With a population of more than 1.3 billion, vaccination is a lengthy and ambitious project. And as Prime Minister Modi recently said that, the world's "biggest COVID-19 vaccination programme" was set to begin shortly in India.
Reacting to a report on the same, business leader and philanthropist Bill Gates took to Twitter applauding India's efforts. "It’s great to see India’s leadership in scientific innovation and vaccine manufacturing capability as the world works to end the COVID-19 pandemic," he tweeted tagging the Prime Minister's office.
A similar sentiment was echoed by other global leaders including World Health Organisation Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. India, he said, had repeatedly demonstrated its resolve to bring about an end to the pandemic.
"India continues to take decisive action and demonstrate its resolve to end COVID-19 pandemic. As the world’s largest vaccine producer it’s well placed to do so. If we act together, we can ensure effective and safe vaccines are used to protect the most vulnerable everywhere," he tweeted tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India currently has less than 2.5 lakh active cases, with the numbers steadily declining over the last few months. Officials say that the vaccination efforts can start as early as next week. But even as many laud India, others have vocal in their criticism of the fact that Covaxin - a vaccine candidate that is still undergoing third phase trials - has been approved for emergency use.
The publishers permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)