1ST CONSIGNMENT OF US COVID AID LIKELY TO REACH TOMORROW

NEW DELHI: With the first consignment of US support materials for India’s Covid-19 response expected to arrive by Friday, people familiar with developments confirmed on Wednesday that India has additionally sought vaccines from the Biden administration.

The people noted that the US does not currently have a large stockpile of the AstraZeneca vaccine – some 10 million doses have been produced so far and about 50 million doses are expected to be manufactured in May and June. There is also no clarity on how many doses from this stockpile will be provided to the country though President Joe Biden has himself mentioned that some of it will be sent to India, they said.

The government’s international procurement programme is mainly focused at the moment on critical medicines such as Remdesivir and oxygen-related equipment, especially concentrators, cylinders, and large and small liquid oxygen tanks, that can be used to ramp up the supply of oxygen across the country.

The first Russian consignment of support materials is expected to arrive in the country on Thursday and the first batch of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine is set to reach India by the end of the month, the people said on condition of anonymity.

Details of the first consignment being sent by the US are still being worked out, though it is expected to contain a mix of equipment and supplies, and some of the materials could be sourced from US military bases in different parts of the world, the people said.