VACCINE VISION: INDIA DONATES TO GLOBAL BODY
GOVERNMENTS around the world last Thursday (4) pledged almost £7 billion for global vaccines alliance Gavi to help immunisation programmes disrupted by coronavirus, prompting calls for global cooperation to ensure a potential Covid-19 vaccine is available to all.
The online meeting beat a target to raise $7.4bn (almost £6bn) to provide vaccines at a much reduced cost to 300 million children worldwide over the next five years.
More than 50 countries took part, including India, which pledged $15m (£11.8m).
Gavi also launched a new initiative to purchase potential Covid-19 vaccines, scale up production and support delivery to developing nations.
“Together, we rise to fulfil the greatest shared endeavour of our lifetimes – the triumph of humanity over disease,” said UK prime minister Boris Johnson, who hosted the summit. “Today we make the choice to unite, to forge a path of global cooperation.”
Announcing India’s pledge, prime minister Narendra Modi said the country stood in solidarity with the world in these “challenging times”.
“Our proven capacity to produce quality medicines and vaccines at low cost, our own domestic experience in rapidly expanding immunisation, and our considerable scientific research talent are all at the service of humanity,” he said.
He added that the ongoing pandemic had “exposed the limitations of global cooperation and that for the first time in recent history, humankind faces a clear common enemy”.
Ahead of the digital summit, Lord Tariq Ahmad, UK minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth, spoke to journalists (including Eastern Eye) on the partnership between India and Gavi (see comment, below).
“The response we have had from India is very positive,” he said on a digital conference call last Monday (1). “India’s participation in Gavi and in supporting the (coronavirus) vaccine cannot in any way be underestimated and we continue to work together.”
“It is an established fact that 50 per cent of the world’s vaccine production is currently in India, which makes it an important partner in that area,” said the peer, who has a dual role as minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development (DfID).
In 2014, from being a Gavi recipient, India became a donor country. It has contributed about $12m (£9.4m) to date.
“It is a notable achievement for India that it has become a supporter and that demonstrates the steps India has taken in recent years. When we look at the scale of production which India has of vaccines, it will be an important partner in ensuring a large number of vaccines are readily available in an equitable fashion,” Lord Ahmad said.
Meanwhile, the US pledged £750m to Gavi’s fundraising drive. Sending a recorded message to the summit, US president Donald Trump said the coronavirus disease “does not discriminate”.
“It’s mean, it’s nasty. But we can all take care of it together... we will work hard. We will work strong,” he said.
The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 6.5 million and killed over 400,000 globally since emerging in China last December, according statistics.
Stay-at-home orders have been imposed across the world to stem the spread of the virus, causing huge economic disruption and the suspension of routine immunisation programmes for preventable diseases such as measles and polio.
The World Health Organisation’s UN children’s agency Unicef and Gavi warned last month that vaccine services were disrupted in nearly 70 countries, affecting some 80 million children under the age of one. Polio eradication drives were suspended in dozens of countries, while measles vaccination campaigns were also put on hold in 27 countries, Unicef said. (With agencies)