Dr Tedros praises India, PM Modi for facilitating vaccine equity

GENEVA: Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), on Thursday, February 25, thanked India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing vaccine to the world righteously.  

Dr Tedros, while thanking India and PM Modi in a tweet, said that India’s commitment to COVAX and sharing COVID-19 vaccine is helping more than 60 countries start vaccination of their health workers and other priority groups. He added that India has set an example for other countries who will surely follow India’s example.

The WHO chief had last week requested countries and drug makers to help quicken the production and distribution of vaccines worldwide, warning that we will be back to the beginning if some countries went ahead with their vaccination campaigns and left others behind. Dr Tedros had previously expressed his gratitude to India and Modi for continued support to global COVID-19 response.

India has provided COVID-19 vaccines to its neighbours including Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India has shipped a total of 361.94 lakh vaccine doses to several countries.