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Updated August 7th, 2021 at 16:14 IST

US allocated just 7.5M vaccine doses to India; needs to do more: Raja Krishnamoorthi

Raja Krishnamoorthi lamented that the US has allocated only 7.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to India, and urged the Biden administration to do more.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
US
IMAGE: AP/PTI | Image:self
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Top Indian-American congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, recently lamented that the US has allocated only 7.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to India, and urged the Biden administration to do more by expanding its global vaccine aid programme. According to PTI, Krishnamoorthi has secured the support of 116 members of congress on his ongoing effort to expand the US global vaccine aid programmes to India and other nations. He has urged Biden to pass the Novid (Nullifying Opportunities for Variants to Infect and Decimate) act in a bid to end the pandemic. 

"The US has so far only allocated 7.5 million vaccine doses to India,” Krishnamoorthi said. 

He added, “I'm once again urging President (Joe) Biden and my colleague in the congress to come together and pass the Novid (Nullifying Opportunities for Variants to Infect and Decimate) act into law to end this pandemic for good because, so long as outbreaks continue in any nation, the entire world faces the threat of new, vaccine-resistant variants”. 

Further, the Indian-American Congressman said as India’s Independence Day is just around the corner, the United States needs to declare “independence from COVID by creating the global partnership necessary” in a bid to produce and deliver the billions of vaccines necessary to truly bring the pandemic to an end. Krishnamoorthi added that meeting the aforementioned goals will demand the continued cooperation of the world’s leading democracies and producers of these life-saving vaccines, including the US and India. 

About the Novid Act

According to PTI, under the Novid Act, the US will establish the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Programme (PanPReP) to oversee the global health response to the pandemic. PanPReP will coordinate efforts between the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Defence, the Peace Corps, and the Department of Labor.

Moreover, the programme will also be responsible for coordinating the US Government response with international non-governmental organizations, development banks, civil societies, as well as foreign governments. After the pandemic, the programme will then shift to protect against future pandemics by coordinating a global disease surveillance network to identify and stop pandemic-potential pathogens before they spread uncontrollably. The bill will authorize spending of $34 billion. Out of the total, $25 billion will be allocated to scale manufacturing capacity and produce 8 billion vaccine doses. $8.5 billion will cover the cost of end-to-end delivery of enough vaccines to immunize 60 percent of the population in 92 COVAX countries. And $500 million to establish a global disease surveillance network to protect against future pandemics.

(With inputs from PTI) 
 

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Published August 7th, 2021 at 16:14 IST

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