Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With India deciding to vaccinate all its citizens above 18 years of age from May 1 amid the soaring second wave of Covid-19, the United States is likely to lift an ‘embargo’ shortly on the export of raw materials used in manufacturing vaccines whose production is set to be ramped up soon.
The Biden administration has conveyed to India that it understands New Delhi’s pharmaceutical requirements and promised to give the matter due consideration, observing that the current difficulty in the export of critical raw materials needed to manufacture vaccines to combat the pandemic is due mainly to an American Act that forces local companies to prioritize domestic consumption, media reported on Tuesday.
The US has clarified that there are no export restrictions on such items and that domestic regulations have only prioritized the use of these materials for the production of vaccines in the US.
The US officials have also acknowledged the larger framework of the India-US health cooperation.
As the killer pandemic soared in 2020 in the US, America invoked the war-time Defence Production Act (DPA) of 1950 that forced the US companies to prioritize production of Covid-19 vaccines and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for domestic production even if they faced financial losses due to ban on exports.
Since the US ramped up the production of vaccines, mostly by pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna, to meet the goal of vaccinating its entire population by July 4, the suppliers of its raw material are forced to provide these only for domestic manufacturers.
Recently, the issue attracted global attention after Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII), tagged President Biden in a tweet.
“Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administration has the details,” he tweeted.
The Pune-based SII is the world’s largest producer of vaccines. It is currently manufacturing, under a license, the Covid-19 vaccine developed jointly by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca.
In recent weeks, India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, while taking up the matter with the Biden administration officials, sought a smooth supply of certain inputs for the production of vaccines in India. Officials from the two sides also discussed ways to ease the supply of critical materials, considering their increased requirements in both the US and India, according to media reports.
The Quad Vaccine Initiative, under which India will manufacture US-developed vaccines (Novovax and Johnson & Johnson) is a concrete example of the US-India partnership. The Vaccine Experts’ Group, which has been constituted under the Quad, has already begun its work.
During their telephonic conversation on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar discussed the pandemic and ways to deal with it.
