As part of its ‘Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing’, US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that it will distribute Covid-19 vaccines to India and several other countries. Vice President Kamala Harris called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inform him about Washington’s global allocation plan of the first 25 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
Besides PM Modi, Harris also spoke to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico, President Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala, and Prime Minister Keith Rowley, Chairman of the Caribbean Community.
The Vice President notified that the US 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, Senior advisor and chief spokesperson Symone Sanders said in a statement on Harris’s calls with foreign leaders.
The administration also gave out the details of the first 25 million doses. Of 25 million, 19 million doses will be shared through Covax, the vaccine coalition of the World Health Organization, and the remaining doses, just over 6 million, will be shared directly with countries experiencing surges, those in crisis, and other partners and neighbours, including Canada, Mexico, India, and the Republic of Korea.
After the call, PM Modi took to Twitter and deeply appreciated the US’s assurance and thanked Vice President Harris for the support and solidarity from the US government, businesses, and Indians living in the US. We also discussed ongoing efforts to further strengthen India-US vaccine cooperation, and the potential of our partnership to contribute to post-Covid global health and economic recovery, he added.
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Meanwhile, US NSA Jake Sullivan has said that Biden made a commitment to ensure that India received doses, and an allocation not just under the regional portion through COVAX but additional allocation from the discretionary portion of the US.