Indies Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar speaks during a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on vaccine-focused COVID-19 recovery, chaired by British Foreign Secretary Dominc Raab.
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar denounced “vaccine nationalism” on Wednesday and called for the world to be on guard against future pandemics.
Addressing, via video link, to the Security Council, he said: “Stop ‘vaccine nationalism’, indeed actively promote internationalism. Hoarding of superfluous doses will frustrate our efforts to achieve collective health security.” He contrasted that attitude of Western nations with India’s global vaccination efforts.
New Delhi’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ program, he noted, has provided Covid-19 vaccines to 25 countries, and 49 more from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean to Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands will soon receive them.
The Foreign Minister of Mexico, Marcelo Luis Ebrard, thanked India for providing vaccines.
Giving some insight into the problem of vaccine inequality, Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: “Only ten countries have administered 75 percent of all Covid-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, more than 130 countries have not received a single one. dose”.
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Jaishankar also announced that India was donating 200,000 doses of the vaccine to UN peacekeepers, which operate in difficult conflict situations. He cited the Bhagvad Gita of India’s motivation to provide the vaccines.
Scripture says: “Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind” and “this is the spirit in which India approaches the Covid challenge and urges this Council to work collectively to address its different dimensions”, He said.
Looking ahead, Jaishankar said the world should prepare for future pandemics and mutations of the Covid-19 virus.
Nations should “collaborate with each other in genomic surveillance to track virus mutations and variants and exchange information in this regard on a regular and timely basis,” he said.
They should also “proactively prepare for the next global pandemic by focusing on enhancing capacities, developing protocols and building a base of knowledge and experience,” he added.
Meanwhile, Guterres, in a warning to developed countries that have grabbed the majority of vaccine supplies, said: “If the virus is allowed to spread like wildfire in the Global South, or parts of it, it will mutate one and Again. New variants could become more communicable, more deadly, and potentially threaten the effectiveness of current vaccines and diagnostics. This can prolong the pandemic significantly, allowing the virus to return and devastate the Global North. “
“The world urgently needs a Global Vaccination Plan to bring together all those with the power, the scientific experience and the required productive and financial capacities,” he added.
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