With 500 crore vaccines by year-end, India to play major role in combating Covid: Foreign Secretary Shringla

New Delhi, February 15

Maintaining that India now has the capacity to produce five billion doses this year, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India is poised to play a major role in the US-led Global Action Plan to respond to acute pandemic needs in several parts of the world.

As four WHO-approved vaccines are being produced in India and three others (Corbevax, ZyCov-D and Gennova) are due for approval, Shringla said India could assist in two ways in the Plan.

The first is strengthening and securing global supply chains for which an essential ingredient would be TRIPS waiver for patents on vaccines, etc, to diversify local manufacturing in regional markets.

“We will rally with like-minded partners and the WHO to improve sub-optimal approval and regulatory processes which are an impediment for stable and predictable supplies,” said the Foreign Secretary at the meeting convened by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The second was customised and tailor-made capacity building and technical training programmes for front-line and health-care workers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. India has so far conducted 17 training modules for over 60 countries focused on the entire spectrum of Covid management.

“We will take our experience in testing, treating and vaccinating a large population spread out in different geographies and terrains to create. This will complement our work under the Quad Vaccine Partnership,” he observed.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Ministers and senior representatives from several countries/international organisations. With External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on tour to Australia and the Philippines, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla represented India at the meeting.