MEA Secy meets DG WHO in Geneva, discusses vaccine cooperation amid pandemic

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary (West) Reenat Sandhu met World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva, where both leaders discussed several issues including vaccines, the ongoing health crisis, the COVID pandemic, and traditional medicine. This came a day after the WHO congratulated India for making progress in achieving the maximum vaccination target, as India crossed the cumulative figure of 74.38 crores on Monday. India's MEA secretary for the west also met Daren Tang, who is the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The two diplomats discussed world issues. Sandhu also "highlighted India's focus on emerging as a global innovation hub bolstered by a balanced and robust IP regime," said the official spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi.

It is pertinent to mention here that India's effort to provide the COVID vaccine to other countries was praised by the DG WHO. Ghebreyesus said WHO and "COVAX partner" India are looking forward to intensifying the global vaccination drive. Ghebreyesus also termed India as "a vaccine manufacturing powerhouse", who has helped the world in a challenging situation and "helped the world in the fight against the pandemic by drastically curbing transmission and offering vaccine doses to hundreds of millions of her fellow citizens".

India administers over 75 crore vaccines

Under the central government's month-long vaccination campaign, the country on Monday, September 13 achieved the highest vaccination target. The country has administered the vaccine to nearly 75 million people. According to data released by the Health Ministry, the country has achieved the 75 crore target under 75,64,949 sessions. Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Mansukh Madaviya took to the microblogging platform and congratulated the country for achieving the 75 crore mark in the 75th year of Independence. Madaviya also termed India's vaccination drive as "the world's largest vaccination campaign".

As per official data, nearly 60% of India's adult population has been vaccinated with the first dose of the COVID vaccine, while 19% of adults have received both doses of vaccine. Almost 67% of the elderly population aged 45 to 59 years have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Meanwhile, the country has also enhanced the COVID testing facility and intensified the vaccination capacity. Notably, India has also donated millions of COVID vaccines to many countries along with health equipment. Speaking about the COVID situation in the country, the daily infection cases have been on a decline. In the last 24 hours, India recorded 25,404 new cases, while 37,127 patients recovered on Monday.

IMAGE: Twitter/@ArindamBagchi