India provided 64 mn doses to 84 countries: Harsh Vardhan

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday informed that 64 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been given to 84 countries under various programmes.

Addressing a panel discussion on Covis-19 vaccine production on Tuesday, Vardhan said, “More than 61 million vaccine doses have been already administered in our country. We always feel that benefits of the science be delivered to the whole world. 64 million doses have been given to 84 countries under various programs.” The virtual conference brought together over 1,000 attendees from around the region and the world in active discussion around tackling key issues facing global supply chains as the world faces the largest and most complex logistical operation in history in an effort to deliver life-saving vaccines worldwide.

Recollecting the biggest challenges faced by him as the Union Minister in terms of rolling out the vaccination programme, Vardhan said, “India itself with a huge population of 1.35 billion and huge diversity is a big challenge. We took this challenge head-on under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On January 17 last year, we had issued an advisory regarding Covid long before it snowballed into the crisis it is today. We also developed capacities for testing, ventilators, tracking, surveillance, quarantine centre and emphasised that Covid Appropriate Behaviour is the most potent vaccine against Covid.”

“After the launch of the vaccines, we prioritised our health care workers, front line workers, the general population aged 45 and above with co-morbidities and those above 60 years of age; and now all those above 45 years. We also planned the opening of 50,000 centres across the country and trained 7 lakh vaccinators for the exercise,” he added.

The Union Health Minister concluded the discussion lauding the need for public-private alliances like the Hope Consortium which was founded to provide supply chain solutions to support the safe and efficient distribution of Covid vaccines, according to an official release.