UN chief Guterres welcomes India's gift of 200,000 COVID vaccine doses for peacekeepers

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 on Wednesday, 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.”

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.’ Further, 200,000 doses essentially imply that it will be possible to administer the required double doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all the United Nations peacekeepers across missions. 

Read - Mexico Arrests 6 For Trafficking False Coronavirus Vaccines

Read - Pentagon To Administer 1M Vaccines By Weekend

94,484 personnel serving in UN peacekeeping operations

According to UN peacekeeping, presently there are at least 94,484 personnel serving across 12 peacekeeping operations across the world led by the Department of Peace Operations. Further, 121 nations are contributing uniformed personnel to the UN peacekeeping missions. India is also traditionally among the largest troop-contributing countries to these missions led by the United Nations. The UN Department of Operational Support (DOS) provides "operational support to all UN Secretariat entities, including advisory, operational and transactional support services and, where needed, exercises delegated authority on behalf of clients.

Several UN diplomats also welcomed India’s gesture including Permanent Representative of Canada to the UN, Ambassador Bob Rae and Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations, Ambassador Valentine Rugwabiza. Both diplomats took to Twitter to express ‘appreciation’ to India for gifting the vaccines amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Read - Jaishankar, Cypriot Counterpart Hold Talks; Discuss Bilateral Ties Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

External Affairs Minister had told the UNSC that India has been very much on the frontlines for the global battle against the health crisis and noted that the nation had previously provided critical medicines, diagnostic kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment to more than 150 countries, about 80 of them on a grant basis.

Read - Virus Vaccines Arrive In Senegal From China

Read -  CARICOM Insists On Equitable Distribution Of Vaccines, Thanks India For COVID Jabs