Chennai, Jan. 2 -- In his address on Friday at IIT Madras, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar highlighted India's pivotal role in supporting global COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Reflecting on the emotional impact of the country's vaccine distribution, he said, "In my entire career, I have never seen anything having a greater emotional impact on the rest of the world than giving vaccines. I've actually had people who tear up when they remember the first vaccine shipment."

"COVID was a bad memory. We have put it all behind us. But at that time, there were developed countries, western countries, who had stocked up eight times the number of vaccines as their population and next to them were small countries to whom they were not willing ...