US to help India with raw materials for COVID-19 vaccine production to fight second wave

The Biden administration will immediately make raw materials needed for India’s COVID-19 vaccine production available as the country is battling a second wave of infections.

Emily Horne, the US National Security Council spokeswoman, said in a statement on Sunday that just as India sent assistance to the United States as the hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the US is determined to help India in its time of need. She said the US would send raw materials required for India to manufacture the Covishield vaccine, as well as therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and protective equipment.

“The US Development Finance Corporation is funding a substantial expansion of manufacturing capability for BioE, the vaccine manufacturer in India, enabling BioE to ramp up to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022,” the statement said. Moreover, the US would also be sending a team of public health advisors from the Centre for Disease Control and USAID to India.

Horne said the US was also pursuing options to provide oxygen related supplies immediately. The Secretary of Defence Lloyd J Austin tweeted his concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak in India. “I directed the @DeptofDefense to use every resources at our disposal, within our authority to support US interagency efforts to provide India’s frontline healthcare workers with the materials they need.

This announcement, according to CNBC, comes in the backdrop of a Sunday call between Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Sullivan “affirmed America’s solidarity with India.”

The number of positive cases in India surged by 349,691 in the past 24 hours for the fourth consecutive day. According to health ministry data, India a country of 1.3 billion people, has recorded a total of 16.96 million infections, and 192,311 coronavirus deaths, after 2,767 more died overnight.

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Hospitals in Delhi and across the country are turning away patients after running out on medical oxygen and beds. Hospitals and doctors have put up urgent notices saying they are unable to cope with the rush of patients.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his monthly radio address Mann ki Baat, said “We are confident, our spirits were up after successfully tackling the first wave, but this storm has shaken the nation.”