World Bank lauds India on Covid-19 vaccine drive, jab production

October 17, 2021

World Bank Group President David Malpass congratulated Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive and thanked her for India’s international role in vaccination production and distribution.
Malpass who met Sitharaman on Friday in Washington DC reaffirmed the commitment of World Bank and group entities International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to India.
The two leaders discussed India’s efforts on climate change crisis, emphasizing the need for scaling up climate finance for impactful projects in line with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and development goals.
Malpass also expressed his appreciation for India’s historical support for IDA and reiterated to Minister Sitharaman the need for a robust IDA20 replenishment. President Malpass also complimented India’s efforts toward financial reform and offered the World Bank to host round table discussions and provide operational support.
Sitharaman shared the measures being taken by India to contain the spread of the second wave of COVID19 pandemic, including major role played by India on the global COVID19 effort.
The Minister also appreciated the World Bank’s initiative for increasing lending space for India to enhance the availability of finance for development.

During the meeting, FM Sitharman also mentioned that the focus should be on technologies that need to be moved from lab to field and those that require targeted global research in the pursuit of low carbon growth.
According to Union Ministry of Health & Finance so far over 97.65 crore COVID-19 doses have been administered in the country under the nationwide vaccination drive. More than 101.7 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far. Over 10.42 crore balance and unutilised doses are still available with the States/UTs.