India has emerged as a ray of hope amid the gloom that has gripped after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. No one was taking India seriously a year ago when the world slipped into restrictions and lockdowns. But a year later the country emerged as ‘savior of the world’ when it rolled out the vaccines not only for its consumption but also for the consumption of the whole world.
One strong recommendation came from none other than Dr Peter Hotez, the Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston.
India’s Gift to World
Dr Hotez, who is a top American scientist said, “The rollout of the Covid-19 vaccines by India in collaboration with leading global institutions has rescued the world from the deadly coronavirus and the contributions by the country must not be underestimated.”
Rescue to the world
Heaping praise on India’s capabilities Dr Hotez said, “The two mRNA vaccines may not impact the world’s low and middle-income countries, but India’s vaccines – made in collaboration with universities across the world such as BCM and Oxford University, have rescued the world and the manner in which it collaborated with the world’s universities and rolled out a viable supply for the world is worthy of applause.”
Dr Hotez was speaking during a webinar organised by Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH).
Medicine Factory of the World
Befitting its ‘medicine factory of the world tag’, India has delivered around 45.6 million doses of Covid vaccines ‘Made in India’ to 45 countries till January this year.
Vaccine Maitri (Vaccine Friendship)
Among the initial receivers of the ‘Made in India’ vaccines were Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Seychelles.
Bangladesh got some 9 million doses of Covid vaccines.
With commercial supplies of 2 million, 4 million, and 1 million doses of the vaccine, Morocco is the second major recipient of the vaccines in January.
Praise for India
Brazilian President Jair M Bolsonaro’s praise for India got wide attention when he tweeted thanks to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the picture of Lord Hanuman carrying a mountain of medicines from India to Brazil.
(Gyanendra has been teaching and writing for the last 15 years. His passion for teaching keeps him engaged and coming out with new ideas. A forced entrepreneur Gyanendra keeps a keen interest in Mathematics and Current Affairs.)