New Delhi, May 21: The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said it had co-sponsored a resolution at the World Health Organisation's General Assembly two days back because it met Indian interests regarding affordability of vaccines and therapeutic medicines to combat Covid as well as other major killers.
The European Union-backed resolution was omnibus, incorporating several suggestions, some of them anathema to the US which was among the few major countries not to co-sponsor it. However, the issue acquired a sharp political edge as Australia suggested that the resolution would pin China down.
The MEA spokesperson Anurag Shrivastav said India engaged in negotiations and agreed to co-sponsor the resolution because it accounted for Indian interests in management of global health issues and affordability of vaccines. “It is important to underscore that the resolution was unanimous. Our position was well reflected in the resolution,” Shrivastav told newspersons over video-conferencing.
In the end, the seven-page resolution that was being projected as a tool to corner China contained a request for an independent probe into the origin of the virus and its transmission to human beings. This was also stated in resolutions on previous viruses. In addition the resolution advised countries to take specific measures in health and general social life to minimise the spread of Covid.
It also laid stress of pooling of IPRs as well as public and private expertise to find a Covid vaccine.
