India will use its vaccine production capacity to help the world fight the Covid-19 crisis and New Delhi stands ready to help countries improve their cold chain and storage capacities for vaccine delivery, said Friday the Foreign Secretary, Harsh Shringla.
Shringla made the remarks while briefing the diplomatic corps and representatives of international organizations on India’s Covid-19 vaccine development and response program, including international cooperation in this field.
“Several countries have been approaching us to receive vaccine supplies. I reiterate our Prime Minister’s commitment that India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all of humanity fight this crisis, ”he said.
“India will also help interested countries to improve their cold chain and storage capacities for vaccine delivery.”
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As a first step, Shringla said, the government will take a delegation of ambassadors on a tour of the diagnostic and vaccine facilities in Pune to give them an “insight into India’s strong and resilient progress in vaccine development and in the process of test”.
India is “on track” in vaccine development and testing, he said. “We are exploring the possibility of conducting phase III trials in some of our partner countries. We also look forward to research collaboration in the field of vaccine development, ”he said.
“Based on the will, we can also opt for joint vaccine production in some countries. We have already conducted online training sessions for nearly 90 participants from eight neighboring countries to build capacity in clinical trials and clinical practices. Depending on the demand, we can carry out more training courses of this type ”, he added.
In addition to Shringla, the panel that briefed the diplomatic corps included VK Paul, member (Health) of Niti Aayog and chair of the national group of experts on the administration of Covid-19 vaccines, the chief scientific advisor K Vijay Raghavan, the secretary of health Rajesh Bhushan, department of the secretary of biotechnology Renu Swarup, the secretary of the department of science and technology Ashutosh Sharma, the director general of CSIR Shekhar Mande and Abhishek Singh, director general of the electronic government division of the Ministry of Electronics and Technology of the Information.
Shringla noted that Covid-19 remained a challenge around the world, with cases increasing every day. “I returned yesterday from Europe, where a second wave of the pandemic is evident. In India, the daily burden of cases has dropped to less than 50,000 from around 100,000 a few weeks ago, ”he said.
In recent months, India added a huge production capacity for personal protective equipment, test kits and medicines that are shared with others, he said.
Due to an increase in the number of tests, contact tracing, an effective isolation protocol, increased availability of medical equipment and test kits, and a sustained public awareness campaign, India’s recovery rate as of November 3 was 91.96% and the fatality rate was 1.49%.
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