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According to Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, India’s pharmaceutical industry will be able to produce COVID-19 vaccines not just for the country but also for the entire world.
Gates made these remarks while speaking in a documentary — COVID-19: India’s War Against The Virus — to be premiered on Discovery Plus this (Thursday) evening, Gates said India also faces a huge challenge due to the health crisis because of its gigantic size and urban centres with a lot of population density.
A lot of “very important things have been done” in India and its pharma industry is doing work “to help make the coronavirus vaccine building on other great capacities that they have used for other diseases”, said the Co-Chair and Trustee of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Commenting on the strength of India’s pharma industry, he said, “India has a lot of capacity there — with the drug and vaccine companies that are huge suppliers to the entire world. You know, more vaccines are made in India than anywhere– starting with Serum Institute, that’s the largest.”
Stating that India joined Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which is a group working on a global basis to build vaccines platforms, Gates said, “I am excited that the pharmaceutical industry there will be able to produce not just for India but also for the entire world. (This is) What we need to reduce the deaths and make sure we are immune, which is how we end the epidemic.”
