Bill Gates and other world leaders applaud India for quick vaccine production

Various global leaders such as tech genius Bill Gates and the Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus have congratulated India for its quick and decisive actions regarding the coronavirus vaccine.

"It’s great to see India’s leadership in scientific innovation and vaccine manufacturing capability as the world works to end the COVID-19 pandemic," Bill Gates tweeted on Tuesday while tagging the Prime Minister's official Twitter account.

Also read| India to begin coronavirus vaccine roll out in 10 days: Government

The message has come two days after the Drug Controller General of India approved AstraZeneca/Oxford's vaccine Covishield — which is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India — and Bharat Biotech's indigenously developed vaccine Covaxin.

Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also took to Twitter to congratulate India for this achievement. "India continues to take decisive action & demonstrate its resolve to end COVID19 pandemic. As the Earth globe europe-africa’s largest vaccine producer it’s well placed to do so," he said. "If we #ACTogether, we can ensure effective & safe vaccines are used to protect the most vulnerable everywhere."

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Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has assured people that India will soon be beginning the world's biggest inoculation drive. "World's biggest COVID-19 vaccination programme set to begin in India. For this, the country is proud of the contributions of its scientists and technicians," Modi said.

"As the largest vaccine producing country in the world, I want to give one more assurance to the global community today. India's vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis," he continued.

On Tuesday, the Indian government also announced that the country is all set to roll out its coronavirus vaccination campaign within ten days as part of emergency use authorisation(EUA).