By Neha Arora
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that he assured Canadian colleague Justin Trudeau that India would do its best to provide Canada with vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially reducing the scarcity faced in the country.
India, which has several vaccine manufacturing facilities, is rapidly emerging as a major vaccine supplier to the world. Canada does not yet have its own vaccine factory and depends on foreign suppliers.
“I was happy to receive a call from my friend @JustinTrudeau. I assured him that India would do its best to facilitate the supply of COVID vaccines sought by Canada,” Modi said in a tweet.
Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc reduced the number of COVID-19 vaccines being delivered to Canada in February.
Last week, Trudeau said Canada would succeed in inoculating its population, despite “momentary interruptions” in the supply of the vaccine and reiterated that every Canadian seeking an injection would be vaccinated by the end of September.
Trudeau and Modi spoke “about India’s significant efforts to promote the production and supply of vaccines, which have provided vital support to countries around the world,” said a statement from Trudeau’s office, adding that the two “agreed to work together on access to vaccines. “
Several Western pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca Plc, Novavax Inc and Johnson & Johnson, have teamed up with Indian drug makers to produce their vaccines for domestic and foreign sales.
Last week, Reuters reported that Verity Pharmaceuticals and Serum Institute of India (SII) – the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer – had signed up to distribute the licensed SII version of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in Canada.
Canada has recorded more than 20,000 deaths and more than 810,000 cases of COVID-19, and many provinces have imposed restrictions to combat a second wave of the pandemic.
(Reporting by Neha Arora; Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Peter Cooney)