The grave impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have been so humongous that it has caused massive human sufferings across the globe. In order to save lives and protect livelihood the global teams of scientists, health workers and the governments are cooperating collectively with the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat the most noxious and devastating pandemic.

India with the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases has successfully shown the world the best approaches to address this extremely serious global issue. The global leaders have immensely lauded the exemplary role and the massive contributions of India to fight COVID-19.

Right from the visionary approach of the Indian government’s social distancing, smart lockdown on the largest scale prioritizing the health and life of its citizens, to developing and manufacturing domestic vaccines, India has played a remarkable role so far. As a result, India has emerged as a strong world leader and a pharmaceutical giant.

India is known as a golden bird and the domestic production of vaccines can be described as the new wings of the golden bird, which is flying across the globe with the vaccines and serving humanity. In fact, India’s vaccine diplomacy has earned it worldwide praise. This, indubitably, swells the hearts of every Indian with pride especially those living abroad.

It is noteworthy that India launched the world’s largest vaccination programme on January 16, 2021. As per the media reports, millions of people have already been inoculated with the first dose in just a few weeks. Furthermore, in the second phase of the world’s largest coronavirus vaccination drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sudden appearance in India’s prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for inoculating the vaccine has inspired and motivated the nation to come forward and get inoculated unhesitatingly.

As a matter of fact, India has recorded the second-highest cases of COVID-19 after the US. Therefore, timely vaccination drive and fearless participation of the masses is the need of the hour. Modi's inoculation of the domestic vaccine has further revitalized the idea of being self-reliant and having absolute trust in made-in-India Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech.

While promoting and prioritizing domestic vaccines, the PM also appealed to citizens of India to get vaccinated and contribute positively to make India coronavirus free. India has produced two types of vaccines, that are, Covaxin, made by Indian firm Bharat Biotech with the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and Covishield, co-developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford - produced locally by the Serum Institute of India. Therefore, India’s capacity to produce an adequate number of vaccines is most likely to serve the nation as well as the needs of all countries across the world sufficiently.

The Indian government aims to first vaccinate its 1.3 billion strong domestic population and to also help humanity and the citizens of the world simultaneously, to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. It is, therefore, producing 500 million vaccines a month to supply other nations around the world as well. According to the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, India has supplied vaccines to 15 countries and other 25 nations are in the queue.

India has provided vaccines to almost all its immediate neighbouring countries (excluding Pakistan). Further, India has gifted/sold vaccines to Bahrain, the first Gulf country to receive it from India, then Oman and Saudi Arabia, etc. India has supplied pharmaceutical materials, equipment, and training to the world. In this context, COVID-19 has taught the world that substantial reforms are needed in the medical and pharmaceutical fields.

Major pharmaceutical companies across the globe are heavily commercialized and have mostly focused on business and trade, and have looked at monetary benefits first. This was one of the major impediments to fight the COVID-19. However, India has set the new trend by looking at the humanitarian aspect first and graciously serving mankind by setting examples for others to follow. India is also supplying vaccines to poorer nations in Caribbean countries, which is beyond any praise.

The Indian government’s vaccination programme is a step forward towards achieving the vision of a self-reliant India, while also helping it become a global pharmaceutical leader.

(The writer is an educationist and faculty member of King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The views are personal. He tweets at @asiframeez and can be contacted at asiframeez@gmail.com)