International travel should be made easier via mutual recognition of vaccine certificates: PM at COVID Summit

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Emphasising the need to address the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that international travel should be made easier through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates.

Addressing the Global COVID-19 Summit, the Prime Minister also said the supply chains of raw materials must be kept open for the production of vaccines against the disease.

"We also need to focus on addressing the pandemic's economic effects. To that end, international travel should be made easier, through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates," he said.

The Prime Minister said that as India's production of vaccines increases, it will be able to resume vaccine supplies to others countries.

"As newer Indian vaccines get developed, we are also ramping up production capacity of existing vaccines. As our production increases, we will be able to resume vaccine supplies to others too. For this, the supply chains of raw materials must be kept open," he said.

Noting that India has always seen humanity as one family, he said 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," he said.

PM Modi said while India shared its vaccine production, the world also stood with the country when it was hit by the second wave of COVID-19.

"Earlier this year, we shared our vaccine production with 95 other countries, and with UN peacekeepers. And, like a family, the world also stood with India when we were going through a second wave. For the solidarity and support extended to India, I thank you all," he said.

The Prime Minister said India is now running the world's largest vaccination campaign and recalled that about 25 million were vaccinated on a single day.

"Recently, we vaccinated about 25 million people on a single day. Our grassroots-level healthcare system has delivered over 800 million vaccine doses so far. Over 200 million Indians are now fully vaccinated," he said. 

(With ANI inputs)

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