India-US partnership critical to vaccinating world against Covid-19, says envoy Sandhu

India’s Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu was speaking at a virtual roundtable on 'Vaccine for All'

The partnership between India and the US in the healthcare sector is critical to vaccinating the world against the coronavirus, India’s Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu said.

Observing that vaccinating the world must be the priority strategy against the Covid-19 pandemic, Sandhu on Tuesday said the world’s map of vaccinations presents a story of disparities with the under-developed countries, including those in Africa, lagging at 10 per cent or below.

Sandhu was speaking at a virtual roundtable on 'Vaccine for All' during which eminent participants, including Bill Gates, discussed how safe, affordable and reliable vaccines can be delivered to all.

In addition to Gates, Co-Chair and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; other eminent participants to the roundtable were Dr V K Paul, member of Niti Aayog and Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO); Professor Peter Jay Hotez, from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Congressman Dwight Evans, Member Ways & Means Committee and Subcommittee on Health.

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“Lots of lessons learnt during this pandemic to inform future R&D (research and development) and vaccine development for all infectious diseases. Appreciate having been part of these discussions,” Swaminathan said.

In his welcome address, Sandhu said that in the process of vaccination for all, India–US healthcare partnership is critical for three reasons.

First, there has been a robust and long-standing collaboration between India and the US in the health sector, including in vaccines. The bilateral Vaccine Action Programme (VAP) resulted in the development of ROTAVAC, the vaccine against Rotavirus.

This vaccine developed by an Indian company (Bharat Biotech) significantly brought down the costs. The established linkages between Indian and US institutions, and researchers augur well in the fight against Covid-19, he said.

Second, the convergences between India and the US are strong. “I only need to point you to the intensive engagements last year at bilateral, Quad and multilateral levels. Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi’s visit to the US, Bilateral Summit with President (Joe) Biden and the Quad Summit were significant, substantive and comprehensive. The Quad Vaccines Initiative is on track to roll out this year on its promise of 1 billion J & J vaccines manufactured by India’s Biological E,” Sandhu said.

And finally, India and the US have unique synergies that can be leveraged, he noted. The cutting-edge technology and research leadership of the US and capabilities of India as the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer can be combined for producing affordable vaccines, he said.

“This is already happening – look at the collaboration by Baylor College of Medicine and India’s BioE to produce patent-free and logistically easier Corbevax or the collaboration between Novavax and Serum Institute of India to produce Covovax. India has already given emergency use approval for these vaccines. “In my interactions with the US administration, Congress, industry and people, the enthusiasm to tap into our synergies for global good has been tremendous. Indeed, this work must be continued. As Prime Minister Modi said ‘India stands ready to work with the world to end the pandemic’,” Sandhu said.

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In his remarks, Gates highlighted the role played by India’s vaccine manufacturers resulting in almost every country in the world being able to offer vaccines against pneumonia, Rotavirus which has saved lives of millions of children around the globe over decades.

He noted Prime Minister Modi’s remarks on deepening India’s commitment to the global hub by continuing to harness the country’s science and technology talent to advance scientific discovery and create new products.

He also highlighted the need for governments, private sector and communities to come together to fight the pandemic effectively. The Quad country partnership with Bio-E to produce over a billion vaccine doses is an example of how these partnerships can be scaled.

In the first session on 'Affordable Vaccine for All', the speakers highlighted the need for a COVAX-like facility and continuous research programmes before the next pandemic strikes to deal with it effectively.

In the second session on 'Augmenting Indo-US Vaccines for African Region,' the importance of the India-US-Japan-Australia vaccine partnership in the equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines in other countries including the African region was brought out.

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