At Biden-convened summit, Modi demands uninterrupted supply of raw materials for production of 5 billion vaccines
India’s ability to produce anti-Covid-19 vaccines for the rest of the world in 2022 will depend on an uninterrupted supply of raw materials required to manufacture the jabs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a summit on global supply chain resilience convened by the United States President Joe Biden in Rome.
Modi told Biden and the leaders of the 13 other nations participating in the summit that India had already been considered a trusted source in the pharmaceutical and Information Technology sectors, it would now take part in the clean technology supply chain too.
The Prime Minister said that India had expedited the export of vaccines to help address the problem of jab shortages around the world.
“We are working with our partners in the Quad to provide better and economical vaccines to the Indo-Pacific nations,” he said, adding that India was ready to produce five billion doses of anti-Covid-19 jabs for the world next year. “This is why it is important to ensure that the supply of raw materials (required to produce vaccines) remains uninterrupted.”
Modi on Saturday had told the leaders of the other G20 nations that India will produce five billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of the next year, not only for its own citizens, but for the people around the world.
The production of the anti-Covid-19 vaccines in India had slowed down earlier this year after the Biden administration had invoked the US Defence Production Act (DPA) to impose restrictions on the export of some raw materials required for production of the jabs.
The move had been aimed at ramping up production and increasing the availability of the vaccines in the US.
New Delhi had taken up the issue with Washington, particularly after the Covid-19 wave had wreaked havoc across the country in April-May. The Biden Administration had finally diverted its pending orders with the United States companies for raw materials required for production of vaccines to India.
Though the supply of raw materials from the US to India resumed over the past few months, New Delhi has been warning against any future disruption.
Biden hosted the Global Summit on Supply Chain Resilience on the sideline of the G20 summit in Rome, with participation of 14 other nations as well as the European Union.
The conclave was held as the supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic slowed down economic recovery around the world. The leaders discussed ways to make the supply chain more diversified and resilient to meet the challenges of future pandemics, conflicts and climate change.
Modi said that all nations had felt the shortage of raw materials to produce vaccines, health equipment and essential medicines in the first few months after the pandemic swept the world.
“Now that the world is gearing up for economic recovery, the supply problems of semiconductors and other commodities are coming in the way of healthy growth,” he observed.
“Who in the world thought there would ever be a shortage of shipping containers?”
He stressed three aspects to improve global supply chains – trusted source, transparency and time-frame.
“It is necessary that supply must be from (the) trusted sources. It is also important for our shared security. Trusted sources must be such that they do not have a reactive tendency so that the supply chain is protected from a tit for tat approach,” said the Prime Minister, adding: “For the reliability of the supply chain, it is also necessary that there must be transparency in it.”
He noted that delay in supply of essentials might lead to bigger losses as India’s pharmaceutical companies had experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“So to ensure supply within a time-frame, we have to diversify our supply chains. And for this, alternative manufacturing capacity will have to be developed in developing countries.”
The Prime Minister suggested that India, the US and the other nations participating in the conclave could chalk out an action plan within a certain time-frame, based on their shared democratic values.
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