India has called on United Nations to address the issue of barriers against access to medicines, in the backdrop of equitable distribution of COVID vaccines.
Indian Diplomat to United Nations, Pratik Mathur said,” Equitable access to affordable medicines, diagnostic tools and technologies remains a concern. We must address all barriers against access to medicines and new technologies, including through the use of flexibilities provided in the WTO TRIPS Agreement and the Doha Declaration.”
Global worries over vaccine nationalism remain as many fear that rich countries will be able to get the vaccine first.
India and South Africa have called on the World Trade Organization or WTO to suspend Intellectual property rights on COVID vaccine so that everyone gets equal access to vaccines amidst the pandemic.
The Indian diplomat, speaking at United Nations General Assembly pointed out “COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted systemic weaknesses in health systems” and “vulnerabilities in the capacity to prevent and respond to pandemic threats” for that world needs to address “the major weaknesses and gaps to strengthen global coordination to ensure that the world is better prepared to curb the impacts of the future health-related crisis.”
Explaining, “We need to capitalize on existing programs such as the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACTA), and COVAX facility to ensure affordable and equitable global access to diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines while strengthening health systems.”
India has extended medical and other assistance to more than 150 countries amidst the pandemic. Indian Prime Minister earlier this year, during his speech at UN, said India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting the crisis.
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