India understands giving vaccines to own population will not solve world problems: Barbados PM

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on Friday lauded India's efforts to distribute COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, saying that the country understands that simply giving vaccines to its own population will not solve the world's problems.

"The one thing that was missing is global coordination in the things that we do to shut down or to coordinate on how we treat the virus and how we distribute vaccines," she said.

Mottley further said: "If we can do that and that's why the gift of the government and people of India is so significant today, because they understand that simply giving their population vaccines will not solve the world's problems in fighting this pandemic."

In February, Barbados received 'Made in India' COVID-19 vaccines under the Vaccine Maitri initiative.

In January, Mottley wrote to Prime Minister Modi, requesting access to vaccines to provide immunisation coverage for the island nation.

India, a world pharmacy, is at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 and is emerging as a key supplier of vaccines to over 70 countries on a commercial and humtarian basis.

( With inputs from ANI )