'Made the global fight successful...' World hails India's battle against Coronavirus
Leader after leader at the "Aksha – Lessons from India" -- an event organized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- enumerated how India had shown the way with regard to achieving vaccination coverage at scale in record time.
FollowIndia's approach to tackling the Coronavirus pandemic and conducting the world's largest Covid vaccination programme is a shining example that the rest of the world should take lessons from. That's the opinion shared by major global policy drivers like WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, USAID and ADB who had gathered in New Delhi to take key lessons and share experiences and best practices from India’s COVID management and vaccination journey
Leader after leader at the "Aksha – Lessons from India" -- an event organized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- enumerated how India had shown the way with regard to achieving vaccination coverage at scale in record time.
Stating that India's response made the world's fight against Coronavirus successful, WHO Country Representative Dr Roderico Ofrin said, "In fact, even before the pandemic, India was a vaccine superpower -- 70 per cent of all the vaccines for regular antigens are produced in India. Partner agencies and the country's highly-motivated workforce, there is no stopping that. And that how this response -- the biggest vaccination campaign in the world -- has happened."
"It was a really a people's movement; every citizen felt they had to do something for this. It was a very dynamic response. Everybody played their part. Rumours and fears were dispelled. and people got vaccinated. Of course, there was some hesitancy at the outset, but it was never forced. I congratulate India's leadership, the health workforce and citizens for the success of the biggest vaccination drive. India has also shown exemplary leadership in supporting the global fight to end Covid-19 by exporting vaccines through Covax. A prepared India is a prepared world -- a responding India makes the world's fight successful," Dr Roderico further said.
Hailing India for not leaving behind any section of the population, UNICEF India Deputy Representative Yasumasa Kimura said, "We supported a number of India models with lessons for other countries. The Har-Ghar Dastak or door to door vaccines campaign, pink booths to enhance coverage among women and transgender population in Uttar Pradesh, 24x7 clinics and mega camps, mobile teams to cover scattered hamlets in the northeast and slums in Bihar and Maharashtra. We also reached the most vulnerable population groups through special vaccine sessions."
"Behaviour change is often about nuances. It was critical that we go block-level based on precise root cause analysis. For example, traditional beliefs were identified in some pockets where we engaged religious leaders to address the issue. Networks like self-help groups, tea garden associations, Panchayati Raj institutions have been key in the spread of vaccine-related communication. This is the first time in our history vaccines have been built on war footing to reach billions," he added.
India's approach to combating the Coronvirus pandemic also received praise from the Asian Development Bank which noted that the country's approach is a shining example that the rest of the world should take lessons from.
ADB Country Director Takeo Konishi said, "India is providing assistance to several developing countries with regards to IT-based management systems like COWIN as well through Covax or through bilateral basis. India's pharmaceutical companies have been at the forefront of producing affordable vaccines. This pandemic showed the proactiveness, both in the industry-support as well from regulatory authorities and encouragement from the government to both private and public-private partnerships, which generated phenomenal results."
Dr Chris Elias, President of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation enumerated three key lessons that India taught the world. These include:
1) Evidence driven leadership at the top
2) Innovation in regulatory science
3) Harnessing different ends of science to bring new innovations quickly
"The innovations in regulatory sciences in terms of being able to balance speed with safety. As an important source of vaccines for the world, India had to face the challenges of being careful yet being fast in evaluating vaccines for emergency use listing. Only a few countries in the world have had to do that. Many other countries depend upon careful regulatory attention to science. And I think that's another thing to applaud about India's experience," Dr Chris said.
