COLOMBO : In line with India’s commitment to make available COVID vaccine for global good, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar announced on Wednesday,Feb. 17 that 200,000 doses of vaccine shall be provided by India to the UN Peacekeepers. This gesture embodies India’s abiding commitment to global health as also to multilateralism, UN systems and UN peacekeeping, to which India is among the largest contributors.
The UN Resident Coordinator Hanaa Singer conveyed her appreciation for this gesture to High Commissioner Gopal Baglay during their pre-scheduled meeting on 18 February 2021.
India, known as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’, has almost 25% of the global vaccine manufacturing capacity. Under #VaccineMaitri (Vaccine Friendship), it provided millions of doses of made-in-India vaccine to 25 countries with many of them on grant basis. In addition, 49 more countries belonging to different parts of the world including North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Pacific would also receive vaccine from India soon. India is also a significant source of supply to the COVAX initiative.
India has shown exemplary leadership during COVID-19 by providing critical medicines, ventilators and PPE kits to more than 150 countries. Out of this, around 80 countries were on grant basis.
India and Sri Lanka have been cooperating closely in combating the pandemic. India supplied 26 tons of medical supplies and also 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine as assistance to Sri Lanka in this joint endeavor. In yet another testimony to this partnership, Sri Lanka is the second largest contributor to the COVID-19 SAARC Emergency Fund, which was the brain child of Prime Minister Narendra Modi