The Director General of World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appreciated the steps taken by India towards ending the pandemic. He wrote on Twitter that India continues to take decisive action & demonstrate its resolve to end COVID19 pandemic.
He mentioned India as the World’s largest vaccine producer and the country is well placed to accomplish that objective.
There was an invitation for collaboration to support world’s less fortunate nations in the tweet. “If we act together, we can ensure effective & safe vaccines are used to protect the most vulnerable everywhere”, Tedros’ tweet stated. He tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Tweet.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) gave approval to two COVID-19 Vaccine candidates – Covishield and Covaxin on January 3, 2021, thereby preparing the way for the world’s largest vaccination drive.
The government has conducted dry-runs (Mock trials) in various parts of the country and has learned how the vaccination drive could go. Also, since India conducts mass polio vaccine drives, it has lot of expertise in handling this.
Looking at the last few words of Tedros, it is possible that WHO might seek India’s help in assisting several underdeveloped countries in getting vaccines. India has already helped several nations when they required India’s Hydroxychloroquine tablets.