As the world waits for a Covid-19 vaccine, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has organized a meeting of vaccine makers and national regulators in the South-East Asia region.
The region is a "vaccine manufacturing powerhouse" with "the quality and scale required to produce and roll-out a Covid-19 vaccine globally", said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the regional director of WHO South-East Asia.
"It must now also play a lead role in overcoming the ongoing pandemic," she said.
Countries like China and the US are spearheading the global vaccine initiative, but South-East Asian nations aren't far behind.
"At the virtual meeting, leading manufacturers from India, Indonesia, and Thailand discussed timelines and production capacity, while regulatory bodies deliberated on adjustments that would be needed in processes to make Covid-19 vaccines available at the earliest," a WHO statement read.
"India, Indonesia, and Thailand are among the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers. Every day, millions of people of all ages are provided life-saving protection by vaccines produced in these three countries," it said.
The UN body has emphasized the various steps to be completed before a Covid-19 vaccine can be used on a large scale, from trials to deployment, as well as plans for post-marketing surveillance.
Seven vaccine candidates are currently being tried on humans. (Read a detailed account here.)
The UN General Assembly recently adopted a resolution calling for "equitable, efficient, and timely" access to any vaccine developed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
"All countries are now preparing to safely transition towards a 'new normal' in which social and economic life can function amid low or no Covid-19 transmission," Poonam Khetrapal Singh said
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