India Is World Leader In Vaccines, Has Done Great Job In Vaccinating Children: Bill Gates

New Delhi: Leading philanthropist and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, has said that India is a world leader in vaccines and investment is being made in the country for lots of new vaccines. In an interview with ANI, Bill Gates also talked about India’s digital thrust, saying the idea of digital connections is flourishing with benefits in agriculture and other sectors.

Watch: India Is A Vaccine Hub Of The Entire World: Suchitra Ella, Bharat Biotech

“I’m certainly bullish. You know, the rate of improvement in a lot of the key areas is very, very strong. You know, everyone knows that in vaccines, India’s the world’s leader, so we’re investing with our partners here to come up with lots of new vaccines,” he said.

He added,

A diagnostics industry has come out of some of the work in the pandemic, so we’re partnering there as well. This idea of digital connections that starts with Aadhaar and the bank accounts that you manage digitally, that’s flourishing. And so we see in agriculture now, they’re registering the farmers and giving them advance notice.

Bill Gates, who is co-founder of Microsoft, said Indian leadership is something other countries should benefit from and talked about India’s remarks about the willingness to help others during the G20 Summit. He said,

We’re a partner with India. In fact, I spoke with the External Affairs Minister about what countries could we accelerate. They are getting some of these benefits that have been so incredible here in India.

Bill Gates talked about India’s role in ramping up vaccine production during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said,

In the case of COVID vaccines, the AstraZeneca vaccine, was available to any vaccine manufacturer. And in fact, it’s very impressive that we helped fund Serum (Institute of India) with USD 300 million. They did many things, but they took the AstraZeneca and got it into production very, very quickly. But that AstraZeneca vaccine was available to any manufacturer. And as long as it was sold at a low price, there was no… no fee involved whatsoever. And so that really was the pharmaceutical industry, both the West and India working together in an exemplary way.

Also Read: COVID-19 Vaccine Reduces Long COVID Risk In Children: Study

He said, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is not connected with word population control and women should have the choice to make their decisions. He said,

We do think that women who want family planning tools, they should be available. And so our work is just when there’s that demand, how do you make it lower cost? How do you make it more convenient? How do you reduce the side effects? There’s been great progress in helping women who want to use those tools have them available. So you don’t think that those are connected? Population control, lower birth rate and development and gender justice, more rights for women, women’s health? Well, women should be able to choose. Do they want to have a lot of children or very few children? It turns out as countries get rich, on average, women choose to have less children. They enter the workforce more. They put more attention per child.

“But those are completely voluntary decisions that it’s great. They should have as many as they want or as few as they want,” he added.

Bill Gates lauded India’s vaccination initiatives that have helped, among other things, to bring down child mortality. He said,

They’ve adopted a lot of new vaccines and they’ve done a great job getting them out to all the kids in the country. So, under five mortalities is a third of what it was at the turn of the century, which was when we first started to work here. So, you know, one third as many children die before the age of five. And the work on vaccines is a big, big part of why India’s seen that improvement.

Also Read: Vaccine Regulators, WHO Officials To Strategise Integration Of COVID-19 Vaccines In Routine Immunisation

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.