In Canada’s Greater Toronto Region, billboards thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine have appeared. The billboards display portraits of Prime Minister Modi alongside the Indian and Canadian national flags.
Starting with the immediate neighbours, India has delivered millions of doses of Made in India vaccine to various countries around the world including Canada. In the coming weeks, the government is planning to further extend the assistance to 49 more countries in Europe, Latin America, South-east Asia, the Pacific Islands and Africa.
India will also deliver 200,000 doses to United Nations (UN) peacekeepers, Union minister of external affairs, S Jaishankar had announced on February 18. “Keeping in mind the UN Peacekeepers who operate in such difficult circumstances, we would like to announce today a gift of 200,000 doses for them,” Jaishankar had said at the United Nations Security Council debate.
He also said India has been “very much” at the forefront of the global fight against the pandemic and is providing vaccines to the world under ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiatives. “We are working actively with GAVI, WHO and ACT Accelerator. Our contribution has also supported the SAARC,” he also said.
The Vaccine Maitri initiative was launched by India on January 20 and under this initiative, the government is gifting the Covid-19 vaccine to various countries. The initiative has earned India praise from around the world, especially in small countries such as the Commonwealth of Dominica. Last week, a group of African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries commended India for supplying Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries during a discussion at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The World Health Organisation also thanked India for promoting supporting vaccine equity.
In February, The United States also lauded India and its pharmaceutical companies for playing a role in producing “life-saving” vaccines for the world. The US also said that it is looking forward to an ‘overarching’ memorandum of understanding to enhance health partnership with India.
The assistance comes as India is inoculating millions of people in the country as well. It is using two vaccines—Covishield manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) and developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and Covaxin developed by Hyderabad’s Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Medical Council of Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology—for the immunisation drive.
