PremiumNEW DELHI: The US on Wednesday said the vaccines it plans to donate to India will be dispatched expeditiously once New Delhi works out its legal processes. A US embassy spokesperson said the delay in vaccines reaching India was not due to issues in Washington.
“In the case of India: the delay is not from the US side. India has determined that it needs further time to review legal provisions related to accepting vaccine donations. Once India works through its legal process, our donation of vaccines to India will proceed expeditiously," the spokesperson said in response to a query.
In June, the US had announced plans to donate 80 million of its stockpiled vaccines, some of which have arrived in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Taiwan. Some of those vaccines were to be made available to India as well.
The 80 million doses that the US is donating comprise vaccines manufactured by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson. India has been using the Oxford AstraZeneca-developed vaccine for domestic inoculation along with domestically developed Covaxin.
Drug regulators in India have also green-lighted Russia developed Sputnik vaccine and the Moderna vaccine recently. The Pfizer vaccine is yet to receive regulator’s clearance in India.
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