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New Delhi: As India ramps up production of covid-19 vaccines, the country will be able to resume supplies to others nations too, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the global covid-19 summit held virtually, Modi said “Earlier this year, we shared our vaccine production with 95 other countries, and with UN peacekeepers. And, like a family, the world also stood with India when we were going through a second wave."
“As newer Indian vaccines get developed, we are also ramping up production capacity of existing vaccines. As our production increases, we will be able to resume vaccine supplies to others too. For this, the supply chains of raw materials must be kept open," said Modi.
Modi’s statement comes a day after union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday said that India will resume exports of covid-19 vaccines from October to meet its commitment for global supplies through COVAX, a multilateral initiative aimed at fostering global access to coronavirus vaccines from October.
The health minister had said with the production of covid-19 vaccines being accelerated, the central government will receive over 30 crore doses in October followed by 100 crores additional doses in the next three months. The director general of World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday thanked the Indian government for resuming shipments of covid-19 vaccines against COVAX.
The Prime Minister during the summit also raised the issue of the mutual recognition of vaccination certificates among countries. “We also need to focus on addressing the pandemic’s economic effects. To that end, international travel should be made easier, through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates."
The UK has added Serum Institute of India’s Covishield vaccine in its approved vaccines list but Indians will still have to follow the 10-day quarantine rule as per the revised guidelines for travel to Britain.
Reacting to Indian government’s arguments over the rule, Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India in a statement said: “We’re clear Covishield is not a problem. The UK is open to travel and we’re already seeing a lot of people going from India to the UK, be it tourists, business people or students. Over 62,500 student visas have been issued in the year ending June 2021, which is an increase of almost 30% as compared to the previous year. We want to make the process of travelling as easy as possible.
“We have been having detailed technical discussions regarding certification, with the builders of the CoWIN app and the NHS app, about both apps. They’re happening at a rapid pace, to ensure that both countries mutually recognise the vaccine certificates issued by each other."
Talking about the national covid-19 vaccination program, Modi said that India is now running the world’s largest vaccination campaign. “Recently, we vaccinated about 25 million people on a single day. Our grassroots-level healthcare system has delivered over 800 million vaccine doses so far," he said adding that over 200 million Indians are now fully vaccinate.
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