India has pledged $15 million to the international vaccine alliance, Gavi. In an address at the Global Vaccine Summit hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country stood with the world in these challenging times.
He said, “India's civilisation teaches to see the world as one family and that during this pandemic it had tried to live up to this teaching.” Modi said India had shared its stocks of medicines with over 120 countries, set up a common response strategy in its immediate neighbourhood, and provided specific help to countries in need. Modi said, “The Prime Minister said the Covid-19 pandemic, in some ways, has exposed the limitations of global cooperation and that for the first time in recent history, the human kind faces a clear common enemy.”
Modi called Gavi a symbol of international solidarity, and said India understood the importance of immunisation since it has a huge population and limited health facilities. He said India had added six vaccines to its National Immunisation Programme to expand protection.
