Pandemic preparedness on agenda in meeting of G-20 science advisors in Uttarakhand

Sood said, "The success in administering 220 crore vaccines in record time during the Corona period is a living example of India's S&T power."
Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) Professor Ajay Sood at a media briefing on Wednesday evening on the sidelines of the three-day G-20 meeting (Photo | Express)
Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) Professor Ajay Sood at a media briefing on Wednesday evening on the sidelines of the three-day G-20 meeting (Photo | Express)

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand hosted the first meeting of the G20-Chief Science Advisor Roundtable (G20-CSAR) at Ramnagar, which saw in-depth discussions on science and technology issues of common interest.

"Under the theme 'Opportunities in Health' for better disease control and pandemic preparedness, we discussed the plan for a flexible, adaptive and timely response to the pandemic," said Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) Professor Ajay Sood at a media briefing on Wednesday evening on the sidelines of the three-day G-20 meeting.

"Integrated disease surveillance mechanisms for humans, livestock and wildlife, R&D roadmap for diseases of health importance, and investments in analytics such as disease modeling and data standards were discussed in detail at the summit," he said.

Sharing the achievements of the discussions at the summit, Sood said, "Under the theme of coordinating global efforts to expand scholarly access to scientific knowledge, we discussed that access should be free, immediate and universal. The high subscription and article processing fees levied by magazines should be reduced."

"The repository should be reduced. There should be an open access mandate to establish interoperable inter-linking of national repositories with archives and to make knowledge production of public funded scientific research widely available," he added.

Sharing the gist of the brainstorming sessions of the summit, Sood further said, "Another theme was on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in science and technology. The participating countries also shared their work in advancing access to under-represented, disadvantaged, marginalized, minority as well as tribal communities in the larger scientific enterprise."

"The fourth session discussed the need for an institutional mechanism for an inclusive, sustainable and action-oriented global science and technology policy dialogue. It was agreed that scientific advisors play an important role in shaping policy choices by providing evidence-driven science advice and, in the spirit of collaboration and dialogue, it is the responsibility of the chief science consultants to collaborate and engage in international dialogue to address cross-border issues affecting the entire scientific enterprise so that science and technology can benefit all," he said.

Expressing happiness over the achievement in vaccination, Sood said, "The success in administering 220 crore vaccines in record time during the Corona period is a living example of India's S&T power."

Dr Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary and Naman Upadhyay, Under Secretary at the G20 Secretariat, were also present.

The meeting was attended by 51 delegates from 18 countries, of which 18 delegates are from India, four from Russia, one from Nigeria, two from France, two from Italy, two from USA, one from Korea, five from United Kingdom, one from Japan, one from Spain, four from South Africa, one from Australia, one from Netherlands, two from Canada, three from Saudi Arabia, one from Brazil, two from China and three from the EU.

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