Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India has already launched two vaccines to fight against the global pandemic of COVID-19, and more such vaccines are on their way from the world’s largest vaccine-manufacturing country.
Addressing the World Economic Forum (WEF) Summit at Davos through video-conferencing, he underlined India’s success in responding to the challenge posed by the pandemic in 2020. “India has developed two coronavirus vaccines so far which have also been exported to many countries. The world would see many more Made-in-India vaccines in the coming days.”
He said India has beaten all odds to battle the pandemic. “When it came, India had its share of problems. At the beginning of 2020, many experts and organizations had predicted that India would be the most-affected country. Someone even said that 700-800 million would be infected and that over two million Indians could die from the pandemic. Looking at the condition of countries with better health infrastructure than in India, the world was right in worrying about us,” he said.
“India, however, took a proactive public participation approach, developed a pandemic-specific health infrastructure, and trained its available resources to fight COVID-19,” the PM added.
India, home to the world’s 18 percent population, has not only successfully taken care of its citizens but also helped other countries by exporting PPE kits and masks. In 2020, India imported these items; but soon began exporting the same.
Referring to the world’s largest vaccination drive India launched on January 16, he said more than 2.3 million healthcare workers have been inoculated in just 12 days. “In the coming months, we will achieve our target of vaccinating 300 million elderly people and people with comorbidities,” the PM said.
He emphatically said that India has guided the world on how traditional medicine (Ayurveda) could help in improving immunity. “Today, India is sending its vaccines to several countries and is helping in developing the infrastructure for successful vaccination, thus saving lives of citizens of other countries.”
“India’s upcoming vaccines will help other countries at a swifter pace to fight the pandemic,” he added.
On the economic front, the PM said that even during the coronavirus induced lockdowns, India continued its economic activities and created employment opportunities through infrastructure projects worth trillions of rupees.
“We stressed on saving every single life. India, now, is walking ahead to become self-reliant.”
