New Delhi: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said that India is willing to offer its "robust vaccine manufacturing industry" for developing vaccines for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries as well as the rest of the world.
Mandaviya made the statement while launching the BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre and Workshop on Vaccine Cooperation through video conferencing. "This center will help to pool together complementary advantages of BRICS countries in vaccine research and development and boost the capacity of BRICS countries to prevent and control infectious disease and provide timely help to other developing countries in need," said Mandaviya.
India has one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturing industries which supplies vaccines to more than 150 countries and meets 60-70 percent of WHO's vaccine requirement. Mandiviya hoped that the R&D Centre will be instrumental in streamlining vaccination resources and facilitating equitable access to safe and efficacious Covid-19 vaccines.
"BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre is a welcome initiative to collaborate with countries, share experiences, build collaborations for mutual benefits and accelerate the development of vaccine of public health importance," he said. The union health minister further urged the BRICS countries to work together to support endeavors such as ACT-A, COVAX, CEPI, etc. to achieve the WHO's laid target of vaccinating 70 percent of the world's population with Covid-19 vaccines by mid-2022.
"Apart from pandemic and health emergencies, there is an ample scope of collaboration among countries like in the field of vaccine-preventable disease with high morbidity and mortality and for those diseases with no vaccines available currently such as AIDS, TB, etc," he added. On the occasion, Mandaviya informed that India has so far administered more than 1.81 billion vaccination doses. He said India has so far approved nine vaccines for Covid19 emergency use, of which five are indigenous.
Inviting stakeholders to collaborate with India, Mandaviya said, "India had prioritized strengthening vaccine research and development efforts for diseases of local as well as global relevance."
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