WHO chief thanks India and PM Narendra Modi for supporting 'vaccine equity'

WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for supporting vaccine equity. Taking to his official Twitter handle, he thanked India and PM Modi for sharing the COVID-19 vaccine with over 60 nations. Expressing gratitude, Tedros wrote, ‘I hope other countries will follow your example’.

This comes after United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is “extremely grateful” for the gift of 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses by India for peacekeepers, said the UN chief spokesperson. Earlier, during an address to the UN Security Council meeting on COVID-19, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had announced the Nobel gesture by India of giving 200,000 COVID-19 doses for the UN peacekeepers. MEA had said, “Keeping in mind the UN Peacekeepers who operate in such difficult circumstances, we would like to announce today a gift of 200,000 doses for them”. 

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Expressing gratitude to India, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary-General told PTI, ‘We are extremely grateful for this donation announced today by the Indian delegation. The distribution will be operationalised by the UN's Department of Support’. Additional 200,000 doses mean that it will be possible to administer the required double doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all the United Nations peacekeepers across missions.

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India gains support 

In another significant development, hundred and fifteen members of the European Parliament have backed India’s proposal to waive provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The proposal, drafted jointly by India and South Africa in October last year, seeks a waiver on the intellectual property rights regime. This is being done to facilitate access to medicines by more countries. As a health crisis continues to threaten the world, New Delhi has called for cost-effective universal solutions which could only be made possible with collective research and efforts.

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