COVID-19 vaccine supplies remain a major priority for the United States, as Joe Biden’s administration works to collaborate with India on resuming vaccine shipments so that the country is better prepared to combat the virus.
Both the US and India are in frequent contact to determine how to effectively deal with the pandemic in the future and what resources will be made available in the battle against COVID-19.
According to a recent Reuters report citing a senior official in the Biden administration, the US government is in regular contact with its Indian counterparts via bilateral and multilateral channels to discuss the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and the South Asian nation’s timeline for restarting vaccine exports.
According to the Indian Pharmaceuticals Industry Report published by the India Brand Equity Foundation in July earlier this year, India supplies over 50 per cent of global demand for various vaccines, 40 per cent of generic demand in the United States, and 25 per cent of all medicine in the United Kingdom.
India is the third-largest producer of pharmaceuticals by volume and the fourteenth-largest by value.
The United States will host India, Australia, and Japan as formal members of the “Quad” on September 24 for the first-ever in-person summit of the four countries.
All four leaders will be thinking about the worldwide epidemic, notably Joe Biden, whose administration is pushing to resume India’s vaccine shipments.
The visit of Prime Ministers Scott Morrison, Narendra Modi, and Yoshihide Suga to the US will overlap with Biden’s presentation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 21.
The Quad members last spoke on the phone in March, pledging to work together to combat the spreading pandemic.
Because India is the world’s biggest exporter of pharmaceutical medicines, there are great expectations for Narendra Modi and his administration to deliver.
However, once India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, was struck by a devastating wave of illnesses, the Quad’s intentions to collaborate closely on COVID-19 vaccines had to be put on hold.