India was in talks to allow major foreign vaccine manufacturers to carry out “local manufacturing”, said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Thursday.
Addressing the WHO’s South-East Asia Regional Health Partners’ Forum, he stated that India was fighting an “exceptionally severe second wave”of the pandemic.
“We are also part of the discussions with major vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna about sourcing and possible local manufacturing of their vaccines in India. We have also helped expedite the introduction of Sputnik-V vaccines,” he said, elaborating on the role of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in securing vaccines.
India had been demanding easier access to raw materials necessary for production of vaccines. Mr. Shringla said MEA’s representatives have been working to “ease regulatory disruptions to these supply chains”.
India would create “global scale capacities” necessary to fight the pandemic. “A number of serious global conversations are underway on this in platforms such as th G7, th G20, QUAD, BRICS, the United Nations and the WTO itself,” he added.