India News | India Generated Blueprint for World to Deal with Future Public Health Crisis, Says New Report

New Delhi, Feb 23 (PTI) Despite its huge diversity, India not only addressed the pandemic but also generated a blueprint for the world to deal with future public health crisis, stated two reports released by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday.

The reports also underlined that a strong political commitment and coordination among stakeholders led to the historic feat of administering over 176 crore Covid vaccine doses.

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Titled 'COVID-19-India's Vaccine Development Story' and 'India's COVID–19 Vaccination Administration Journey', the two reports have been prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness which is a part of the global network of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness and affiliated to Harvard Business School.

These reports highlighted the aspects that contributed to the success of India's COVID-19 vaccine development and administration efforts, including manufacturing of indigenous vaccines, sturdy and timely procedures and protocols for approvals that ensured the safe administration of vaccinations.

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Releasing the reports, Mandaviya said, India's scientific capacity has been demonstrated by the development of many indigenous vaccines, which have been approved by WHO.

"Our ability to trace, test, treat and contain the infection through a strong surveillance network and the solidarity of healthcare and frontline workers and citizens under the leadership of Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) along with collaboration with states and other ministries, have made the COVID-19 vaccination drive successful," he said.

The reports acknowledge the significant challenges faced by the Indian government in delivering and administering vaccines to a majority of 1.3 billion people eligible for inoculation, the minister said.

He stressed that the reports have appreciated the massive efforts considering the size and heterogeneity of a country like India.

Mark Esposito of Harvard University said, "India, despite having such diversity, not only addressed the national crisis but also generated the blueprint for the world to innovatively use technology to deal with the future public health crisis."

"The introduction of e-governance mobile app for real-time tracking and control of cases, indigenous manufacturing of PPE kits on par with global standards and localized manufacturing of testing swabs were a tremendous effort by the government to combat the pandemic."

Dr Amit Kapoor, Chair, Institute for Competitiveness, appreciated India's unique characteristic of blending science with culture and building solidarity in its communication strategy to remove vaccine hesitancy.

A comprehensive communication strategy guided the stakeholders in managing the information flow regarding vaccines, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)