U.S. to provide vaccine components, medical supplies as India battles COVID-19 spike
WILMINGTON, (Reuters) - The United States will immediately send raw materials for COVID-19 vaccines, medical equipment and protective gear to help India respond to a massive surge in coronavirus infections, U.S. President Joe Biden said yesterday.
“Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need,” Biden said on Twitter after the White House announced a list of measures.
National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said U.S. officials were “working around the clock” to deploy available resources and supplies to help India manufacture the Covishield vaccine and tend to the millions of Indians who are sick and dying. The United States will also send therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits and ventilators.
Washington was under mounting pressure to help India, the world’s largest democracy, after Britain, France and Germany pledged aid over the weekend.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, as the country set a global record for new COVID-19 infections in a single day. (Graphic on global case and deaths) https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi
The United States was also pursuing options to provide India with oxygen generation and related supplies, Horne said.
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, Democratic vice-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, welcomed the announcement but urged Biden to go further and give India the United States’ unused COVID-19 vaccines doses from AstraZeneca Plc.