Joe Biden made ‘commitment’ to send COVID-19 vaccines to India: US NSA

United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Thursday said that the Biden administration has made a “commitment" to dispatch the coronavirus vaccine doses to regional partner and key ally India. This comes as the US President reaffirmed his commitment to leading an international and coordinated vaccination effort, announcing that he will donate 80 million COVID-19  vaccines – the 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines previously announced and an additional 20 million doses by the end of June.

"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 WHO’s COVAX, but an additional allocation from our discretionary portion was something that he wanted to do," Jake Sullivan told the White House briefing. 

Going forward, the US will also coordinate with the G7 partners, the EU, COVAX, and others to coordinate a ‘multilateral effort’ focused on ending the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. NSA to President Joe Biden said that the US approach has been to prioritize South and Southeast Asia, including countries like India, Nepal, the Philippines, and others that are undergoing surges right now. "portion of those doses will go to India, which has, obviously, dealt with a surge, and we've seen the gripping images coming from that country.” 

19 million to be shared via COVAX

The US announced the proposed allocation plan for the first 25 Million doses, of which 19 million will be shared through COVAX. Approximately 7 million doses will be dispatched to Asia, including India. “Just like in the United States, we will move as expeditiously as possible,” the Biden-Harris administration said in a release. Sullivan told reporters that the portion of the total allocated doses will go to India, “which has, obviously, dealt with a surge, and we've seen the gripping images coming from that country.”

Earlier this morning, US Vice president Kamala D. Harris spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as she reiterated that the Biden administration’s efforts are focused on achieving broad global coverage of the COVID-19 vaccines, responding to surges and other urgent situations and public health needs. She informed that the US will be sharing the first 25 million doses of COVID vaccines with the respective countries as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s framework for sharing at least 80 million vaccines globally.