India would be able to resume vaccine supply to other countries soon, PM Modi said

International travel should be made easier, through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said.

This will help in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic's economic effects, PM Modi said on Wednesday at the Global COVID-19 Summit convened by US President Joe Biden.

Noting that the the Covid-19 pandemic was an unprecedented disruption which is not yet over, he said much of the world was yet to be vaccinated.

India stands ready to work with the world to end the pandemic, he said during his remarks at the event.

PM Modi said India would be able to resume vaccine supply to other countries soon.

As newer Indian vaccines get developed, the country was also ramping up production capacity of existing vaccines, he pointed out.

"As our production increases, we will be able to resume vaccine supply to others too. For this, the supply chains of raw materials must be kept open," PM Modi said.

"With our Quad partners, we are leveraging India's manufacturing strengths to produce vaccines for the Indo-Pacific region," he said.

He also pointed out that India and the South Africa had proposed a TRIPS waiver at the WTO for COVID vaccines, diagnostics and medicines.

"This will enable rapid scaling up of the fight against the pandemic," the Indian Prime Minister said.

'India running world's largest vaccination campaign'

Prime Minister Modi said India was now running the world's largest vaccination campaign.

"Recently, we vaccinated about 25 million people on a single day. Our grassroots level healthcare system has delivered over 800 million vaccine dose so far," he pointed out.

Noting that over 200 million Indians were now fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Modi said this had been enabled through the use of the innovative digital platform Co-WIN.

In the spirit of sharing, India has made CO-WIN and many other digital solutions available freely as open-source software, he added.

PM Modi thanked everybody for the solidarity and support extended to India when it experienced the second wave of the pandemic earlier this year.

He pointed out that India had shared medicines and medical supplies with over 150 countries

"India's pharmaceutical industry has produced cost-effective diagnostic kits, drugs, medical devices, and PPE kits. These are providing affordable options to many developing countries," PM Modo said.

Two indigenously developed vaccines have received "Emergency Use Authorization" in India, including the world's first DNA-based vaccine.

Several Indian companies are also involved in licensed production of various vaccines.

"Earlier this year, we shared our vaccine production with 95 other countries, and with UN peace-keepers. And, like a family, the world also stood with India when we were going through a second wave," the Prime Minister said.