• Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the Second Global COVID-19 Summit held virtually on the invitation of the US President Joe Biden.

• Modi said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) must be reformed to build a more resilient global health security architecture and especially pitched for streamlining its approval process for vaccines and therapeutics to keep the supply chains stable and predictable.

• The PM delivered his remarks in the opening session of the Summit on the theme ‘Preventing Pandemic Fatigue and Prioritizing Preparedness’.

• He highlighted that India adopted a people centric strategy to combat the pandemic and has made the highest ever allocation for its health budget this year.

• Modi had participated in the First Global COVID virtual Summit hosted by President Biden on September 22, 2021.

Second Global COVID-19 Summit

• The Second Global COVID-19 Summit, co-hosted by United States, Belize, Germany, Indonesia, and Senegal, convened over partners and organisations from around the world to accelerate collective efforts to get shots into arms, enhance access to tests and treatments, protect the health workforce, and finance and build health security for future pandemics and other health crises.

• Leaders from around the world made bold new commitments to control COVID-19 and prevent future health crises. Secretary General of the United Nations, director general of WHO and other dignitaries also participated.

• The US announced new commitments to the global COVID-19 response and pandemic preparedness, building on substantial US commitments made to date and during the last global COVID-19 Summit.

• As the world’s largest donor, the US has to date provided more than $19 billion in health, humanitarian, and economic assistance and has committed to provide 1.2 billion vaccine doses to the world for free, of which 53.5 crore doses have already been provided.

Commitments from Indian govt during the Summit:

i) Will continue to extend boosters coverage to eligible populations and expand vaccinations to those under age 18, and continue working towards complete vaccination coverage for the country’s adult population. 

ii) With the increased funding allocated for the 2022-2023 domestic health budget, the government will provide insurance coverage for health care workers, increase the number of health and wellness centers. 

iii) Will increase the number of integrated public health and regional disease control laboratories, as well as bio-safety labs. 

iv) Is increasing zoonotic surveillance, and will continue to supply vaccines and work on extending a SARS-CoV2 genomic consortium to neighbouring countries.

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