On Wednesday, India announced a gift of 2 lakh doses of COVID vaccines for UN peacekeepers and 25 countries have already received India-made vaccines. Vaccines will be supplied to around 49 countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Pacific islands in the next few days.
The foreign minister of India S Jaishankar ensured that there won’t be any sort of inequality in terms of access to Covid vaccines in poor and violence-affected countries. The concern for the inequitable distribution of vaccines was even addressed by UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. Canada is the only G7 country to ask for its share of doses from the Covax facility.
Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister said it had supplied vaccines to 22 countries.
Jaishankar has put forward certain solutions which include encouraging the world to persist with the vaccination drive and collaborate on genomic surveillance o track mutations and variants. Presently, there are three variants of concern- Kent variant, South Africa, and Brazil variant.
Vaccine hesitancy should be addressed in the world. Efforts should be made to work to improve public health infrastructure and capacity.
Jaishankar emphasised stopping vaccine nationalism and encouraging internationalism. India joined hands with other countries to prevent disinformation campaigns and prepare for the upcoming global pandemic. Routine immunization programs should be continued.