India, which has one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturing industries, which has supplied vaccines to more than 150 countries and met 65-70 percent of WHO vaccine requirements, is willing to offer its robust vaccine manufacturing industry for developing vaccines for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), as well as the rest of the world,” Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday at the launch of the BRICS Vaccine R&D Initiative.
He stated that the Indian government would assist in pooling the BRICS countries’ complementary advantages in vaccine research and development and boosting their capacity to prevent and control infectious diseases, as well as providing timely assistance to other developing countries in need.
BRICS must collaborate for Vaccine effort
The Minister suggested that the BRICS countries collaborate to support initiatives such as ACT-A, COVAX, CEPI, and others in order to meet the WHO’s goal of vaccinating 70% of the world’s population with COVID-19 vaccines by mid-2022.
“Aside from pandemics and health emergencies, there is ample scope for international collaboration in areas such as vaccine-preventable diseases with high morbidity and mortality, as well as diseases for which no vaccines are currently available, such as AIDS, TB, and other diseases,” he noted.
So far, India has approved nine COVID-19 emergency vaccines, five of which are indigenous. This included the world’s first-of-its-kind mRNA vaccine, Genova, which was developed and produced independently of the WHO’s transfer technology program.