US to consult with Modi govt on how many vaccine doses India should get out of its donation

President Joe Biden’s administration will discuss with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government before deciding on the exact number of Covid-19 vaccines India will get out of the doses the United States will donate to other countries from its own stockpile.

Chuck Schumer, the majority leader of the American Senate, however urged the Biden Administration to ensure “a robust allotment” for India out of the Covid-19 vaccine doses the US would donate to other countries. Schumer recently wrote to Biden, recalling that India had helped the US in the hour of need by sending much-needed Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) during the early days of the pandemic. “Now, it is time for us to give back and help the people of India.”

“In terms of the actual number of doses, we’ve done some notional planning but the refinement of the actual dose numbers will be determined in consultation with governments and their health experts, the state of their vaccine plans and delivery, and with (the) COVAX,” Gayle Smith, the US State Department’s coordinator for the global Covid-19 response, said.

The Biden Administration on Thursday announced the allocation of the total 25 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccines, which the US would send out as the first tranche of the total 80 million doses it pledged to donate to other countries.

Read | Joe Biden announces international Covid-19 vaccine sharing plan

India is the only country which would receive vaccines from both the two components of the first tranche of the US donations – directly as well as through the Covax, an initiative of the World Health Organization, Gavi The Vaccine Alliance and the others to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 jabs around the world.

"The President made a commitment to ensure that India received doses and giving them, not just an allocation under the regional portion of this, through Covax, but an additional allocation from our discretionary portion was something that he wanted to do,” Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, told journalists.

But, in terms of number of doses, India is still unlikely to get much out of the first tranche of the vaccines donated by the US.

India will in fact get just a small portion of the 13 million – six million directly and seven million through the Covax initiative supported by the WHO – vaccine doses, which the US earmarked for more than 25 countries.

Smith, however, said that India would get a “substantial” number of vaccines from the US.

“So we want to be careful about putting a number out there out because we want to work all of those pieces to make sure we’ve got the numbers right. But I think they will be substantial numbers” she told journalists on Friday.

The first tranche of the vaccines to be donated by the US will comprise mainly the ones developed and manufactured by the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Though the Biden Administration pledged to share with other nations 60 million AstraZeneca vaccines, lying in storages and unlikely to be used in the US in the coming months, it would have to wait for the clearance from the Food and Drug Administration.

Smith said the US would try to match vaccines to the national inoculation programmes run by the governments of the foreign countries where its donation would reach. The US would also have to take into account factors such as regulatory approvals and cold chain facilities, she said on Friday.

The Modi Government is mainly using the Covaxin developed by its Bharat Biotech Limited and the AstraZenaca’s vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India and branded as Covishield in India for the nationwide inoculation campaign.