AIIMS director calls for equitable distribution of Covid vaccines globally

New Delhi: AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria on Monday called for equitable distribution of COVID vaccines across the globe, saying "nobody is safe until everyone is safe".

He highlighted that if it does not happen, coronavirus will continue to mutate.

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Speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day lecture series organised by the JNU's Centre for Canadian, US, and Latin American Studies, Guleria lauded the country's vaccination programme.

"India has done remarkably well as far as our vaccine programme is concerned… (It is) something that (we) should be proud of. Almost 97 per cent of Indians aged 18 and above have received the first dose of the vaccine. This is a remarkable achievement. We have the biggest and best vaccine programme in the world," he said.

"It is also important that there should be equitable distribution of vaccines all around the world. If that does not happen the virus will continue to mutate. No one is safe unless everyone is safe," he added.

The two-day lecture series on 'COVID-19 and the engaged democracies with special reference to Canada and India' has been funded by Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI).

The inaugural address was also attended by JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit and SICI Director Prachi Kaul.

Addressing the event, the AIIMS director noted that the virus, which has raged on for 26 months and claimed 6 million lives worldwide, will gradually become endemic.

He also pointed out that the pandemic has impacted every sphere of life — healthcare, economy, education, politics and governance, food security, and had a major impact on travel and tourism.

"After the emergence of the first COVID case, it has been a roller coaster ride and the world has never been the same again. We know sooner or later this pandemic will end and we are hoping that we are reaching the stage and gradually this virus will become endemic," he said.

"It is not going to disappear and it will continue as far as the infection is concerned, but we will not have that type of severe illness like we saw last year," he added.

He also stated that the country has done "remarkably well" as far as the number of deaths per million population is concerned.

"As countries in the world have been impacted by the pandemic. India has the second-largest number of documented cases and the third-highest number of documented deaths," he noted.

"If you look at the number of deaths per million population, India has done remarkably well even when you compare it with the western world. There have been huge efforts made by our country in decreasing mortalities considering the challenges we had as an emerging market and the population," he said.

Asserting that the World Health Organization has deemed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten global health threats, Guleria mentioned that data from various studies show that compared to the western countries, there is not much vaccine hesitancy in India.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, 2021.

India began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers, frontline workers, including personnel deployed for election duty, and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10 amid the country witnessing a spike in coronavirus infections fuelled by its Omicron variant.

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