ECOSOC - Special Ministerial Meeting

“A Vaccine for all”

INDIA STATEMENT

By

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare

16 April 2021

Mr. President,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

India is glad to participate in today’s event on a very topical theme that the world is confronted with. COVID-19 pandemic continues to unleash as new strains of Corona virus continue to be discovered in various parts of the world. The speed at which multiple vaccines were developed by the world’s scientific fraternity has provided us with hope that we can score a win in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global community continues to face challenges related to availability, accessibility, affordability and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Lack of global cooperation in accessibility of vaccines will affect the vulnerable countries the most. From an economic perspective, the costs of inequitable vaccine distribution will be massive.

Equity in access to the vaccine is important for mitigating the impact of the pandemic. The disparity calls for international cooperation within the framework of COVAX and secure vaccine doses for poorest nations. We should collaborate on genomic surveillance to track virus mutations and exchange information in a timely fashion. We also need to ensure that the ongoing global immunization programs pertaining to other vaccine preventable diseases do not get adversely affected so as to avoid resurgence of other deadly diseases. We need to prevent spreading of misinformation to overcome vaccine hesitancy by providing scientific facts to allay the fears of the public. Public health infrastructure and capacities of health workers in vaccine delivery should be strengthened.

India has been at the forefront of the global fight against COVID-19. Two vaccines, including one indigenously developed, have already been granted emergency authorization and more than 20 candidates are under various stages of development. India plans to vaccinate a large chunk of its vulnerable population comprising health workers, frontline workers, elderly and those above 45 years of age in the next few months.

Under our Vaccine Maitri or Vaccine Friendship initiative, India has already provided vaccines to more than 80 countries across the world. We have gifted two lakh doses for UN Peacekeepers. India is a significant source of supply to GAVI’s COVAX facility. India has also called for WTO to suspend IPRs related to COVID-19 vaccines for a limited period of time, for rapid scaling-up of manufacturing and ensuring accessibility and affordability of vaccines.

India has also lived up to its civilizational ethos of seeing the “world as one family” by sharing vaccines with other countries. We need to continue to expand our collaborations, manufacturing and R&D for the COVID-19 vaccines to ensure a speedy and equitable distribution for everyone across the world.

I thank you.