US announces support to Indian vaccine manufacturer

The United States will provide financial assistance to support Indian drug-maker Biological E's effort to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022, a document released by the White House on Friday after the Quad summit said.

New Delhi:U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced it will work with Indian manufacturer Biological E Ltd. to finance increased capacity to support Biological E’s effort to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022 with Stringent Regulatory Authorization (SRA) and/or World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Use Listing, including Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

The announcement is part of the agency’s Global Health and Prosperity Initiative, under which the agency is working to increase manufacturing, production and distribution capacity for vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine, a statement from the U.S International Development Finance Corporation which is America's development bank read.

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The Biden-Harris Administration highlighted this announcement during the Quad Summit, at which the leaders from the U.S., Australia, India, and Japan announced a landmark partnership to further accelerate the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is hard to conceive of an investment with a greater developmental impact than using our financial tools to increase the capacity of vaccine manufacturing to help developing countries in Asia and around the world respond to COVID-19 and other diseases,” said DFC Chief Operating Officer David Marchick in the statement.

“Expanding vaccine manufacturing, especially the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters, will help increase vaccination rates and protect communities around the world.”

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"Biological E is a woman-run and woman-operated business, advancing DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative to promote global gender equity. The vaccines Biological E plans to produce with the assistance of DFC’s financing complement existing efforts to vaccinate as many people in the world as possible in the shortest amount of time", it added.

According to the DFC's statement, under DFC’s development strategy roadmap for impact, DFC is strengthening global health systems by working to provide businesses with financing to increase capacity in the manufacturing, production and distribution of vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine.

DFC is looking to strengthen the vaccine supply chain and last-mile logistics for distribution. DFC is accepting proposals under its Global Health and Prosperity Initiative.

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The agency seeks to invest between $5 million and $500 million per eligible project through its full range of financial tools, which includes equity and debt financing, political risk insurance, and technical development. Eligible projects should deliver highly impactful health outcomes in developing countries.