The Biden administration seems to have gone into a mission mode approach and removed all bureaucratic bottlenecks to help India in its fight against the deadly Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the country.
Various wings of the US government, including the Department of Defence, Department of Health and Human Resources, the State Department, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and US Trade Representatives have been activated to not only identify India’s need but also to remove all the bureaucratic hurdles and ensure that all medical requirements start being airlifted to India as soon as possible.
We are in close touch with Indian officials at all levels. We are also closely coordinating with our allies, friends, and Quad partners about how we can collectively support India in its hour of need, a senior administration official told reporters, soon after US President Joe Biden had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As requested by the Centre, the US will be providing raw materials for the production of the Covishield vaccine at the Serum Institute of India, a second senior official said.
Given that there is not enough supply for the entire global manufacturing effort and in light of the current crisis, we, the United States, are diverting our order to India, the official said. We did not intervene with the manufacturer to make them fill the Serum Institute’s order; we don’t have that power, the official explained.
USAID and CDC will provide technical assistance and materials, and strengthen vaccine communications and support of vaccine readiness at the national and sub-national levels.
Observing that India was facing a huge surge right now, a third senior official said that there’s a lot of support that the Biden administration is currently exploring. At India’s request, we’re exploring options to provide oxygen and related supplies. These are resources that India has specifically requested and are very high on their priority list, the official said.
“Had a fruitful conversation with @POTUS @JoeBiden today. We discussed the evolving COVID situation in both countries in detail. I thanked President Biden for the support being provided by the United States to India,” Modi tweeted after discussions with Biden on phone.
“India-US healthcare partnership can address the global challenge of Covid19,” he added.