A very large portion of COVID-19 vaccines are likely to be manufactured in India through the country's strong and robust private sector partners, said Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman. In an interview to PTI, Suzman noted that India is doing everything it can right now with the resources at hand to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. "I think India is doing everything it can right now with the resources at hand, but we are all hopeful that next year as some of these vaccines should come out...and our expectation is that a very large portion of these are likely to be manufactured in India through the strong and robust Indian private sector partners and then that will be the key area to focus on in the next phase of the COVID pandemic," he said.

He underlined the need to have equitable global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. "We believe passionately that there needs to be equitable global distribution, so everything we are doing is to make sure that the developing countries will be able to have access at the same time and at the same volumes as wealthy countries, because for a global pandemic that is essential, but then the exact pacing and distribution within the countries is going to depend on national guidelines with some of the global recommendations," he said.