Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dials PM Modi for Vaccine

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, dialled Prime Minister Narendra Modi late Wednesday night requesting for the vaccine to inoculate its population against Covid-19, Prime Minister’s Office informed in a press release.

“Prime Minister (Modi) assured the Canadian PM that India would do its best to support Canada’s vaccination efforts, just as it had done for many other countries already.”

Trudeau expressed his appreciation for Bharat’s fight against Covid-19, “if the world managed to conquer COVID-19, it would be significant because of India’s tremendous pharmaceutical capacity, and Prime Minister Modi’s leadership in sharing this capacity with the world.”

The two prime ministers also discussed the important geopolitical issues of mutual interest and vowed to collaborate “in fighting global challenges like Climate Change and the economic impacts of the pandemic.”

They also expressed their interest in continuing the discussion and collaboration on important global issues through various “international fora later this year”.

Bharat has already been supplying vaccines to different countries to help them fight the pandemic.

Spearheading his efforts in fighting the pandemic, Prime Minister Modi had visited Serum Institute in Pune, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Zydus Cadila in Gujarat in November last year to review the preparations for vaccine launch.

Taking one of the toughest decisions of his prime ministership, PM Modi announced a nationwide lockdown in March last year to check the spread of the virus. Bharat was the first country to do it. Other developed countries followed later.

Serum Institute of India, Pune, is the world’s largest developer of vaccines by the number of doses.

At the peak of the pandemic, many had expressed apprehensions about Bharat’s capacity to fight the pandemic and feared the worst. But, it proved its naysayers wrong, time and again.

Bharat not only checked the spread of the virus but also became one of the first countries to develop a vaccine against Covid-19. It is also undertaking the world’s largest inoculation drive.

Two vaccines are currently is use. Serum Institute of India is manufacturing the vaccine Covishield, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. Another vaccine in use is Covaxin, developed indigenously by Bharat Biotech.