Harris dials Modi on move to send Covid-19 vaccines to India
US VICE PRESIDENT Kamala Harris on Thursday (3) made her first phone call to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inform him the decision of the Biden Administration to send tens of thousands of doses of life-saving Covid-19 vaccines to India.
Vice President Harris spoke this morning to Prime Minister Modi, Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei and Prime Minister Keith Rowley, Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
‘In four separate calls, the Vice President notified each of the leaders that the Biden-Harris Administration will begin sharing the first 25 million doses of Covid vaccines to their respective countries and others, as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s framework for sharing at least 80 million vaccines globally by the end of June,’ her Senior Advisor and Chief Spokesperson Symone Sanders said.
The vice president reiterated that the administration’s efforts are focused on achieving broad global coverage, responding to surges and other urgent situations and public health needs, and helping as many countries as possible who requested vaccines, the spokesperson said.
The four leaders thanked her, and they agreed to continue working together to address Covid-19 and advance our mutual interests around the world, Sanders added.
Earlier, President Joe Biden announced that the US will allocate 75 percent - nearly 19 million of the first tranche of 25 million doses - of unused Covid-19 vaccines from its stockpile through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing program to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa as part of his administration’s framework for sharing 80 million vaccines globally by the end of June.
According to a White House fact sheet, nearly 19 million vaccines will be shared through COVAX. Of these approximately six million for South and Central America to the following countries: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, as well as the Dominican Republic.
Approximately seven million for Asia to the following countries: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, and the Pacific Islands, it said.
Approximately five million for Africa to be shared with countries that will be selected in coordination with the African Union.
The White House said approximately six million will be targeted toward regional priorities and partner recipients, including Mexico, Canada, and the Republic of Korea, West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haiti, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Yemen, as well as for United Nations frontline workers.
The country-wise allocation of the vaccine doses was not made public.
According to the White House, the sharing of millions of US vaccines with other countries signals a major commitment by the US government.
‘Just like in the United States, we will move as expeditiously as possible, while abiding by US and host country regulatory and legal requirements, to facilitate the safe and secure transport of vaccines across international borders,’ it said.
‘This will take time, but the President has directed the Administration to use all the levers of the US government to protect individuals from this virus as quickly as possible. The specific vaccines and amounts will be determined and shared as the Administration works through the logistical, regulatory and other parameters particular to each region and country,’ said the White House.
Meanwhile, the US is eager to involve Indian investigators in global trials to assess the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 treatments, top US infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci said last week.
At a session organized by the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum, Fauci said that the tie-up between the America’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and India’s Department of Biotechnology as well as the Indian Council of Medical Research had led to significant public health discoveries in the past.
‘I am confident they will continue to do so in the future,’ Fauci added. ‘India’s contributions to global scientific knowledge are well known to all. With strong governmental support and a vibrant biopharma private sector, this knowledge already is yielding solutions to Covid-19 prevention and care.’
Fauci said that the US will continue to work with India on research related to Covid-19 vaccines.
Meanwhile, Indian government data has shown the rising inequity in the nation’s immunisation drive, with urban Indians getting Covid-19 shots much faster than the hundreds of millions of people living in the countryside.
In 114 of India’s least developed districts collectively home to about 176 million people - authorities have administered just 23 million doses in total.
That’s the same number of doses as have been administered across nine major cities - New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Thane and Nagpur - which combined have half the population.
The disparity was even stronger last month, after the government allowed private sales of vaccines for adults aged under 45 years, an offer which favoured residents of cities with larger private hospital networks. For the first four weeks of May, those nine cities gave 16 per cent more doses than the combined rural districts, data from the government’s Co-WIN vaccination portal shows.
India has administered more than 222 million doses since starting its campaign in mid-January - only China and the US have administered more - but it has given the required two doses to less than 5 per cent of its 950 million adults.