US to dole out Covid vaccines mostly it has no use for

The US vaccine help to India is like a drop in the ocean whereas much more could have been done in keeping with India’s ‘strategic’ relationship with the US, writes senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah.

New Delhi:Eyeing the diplomatic and strategic impact more than anything else, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic chat with Indian-origin US vice-president Kamala Harris on Thursday. It was largely in the tenor of a ‘thank you’ call where Modi expressed gratitude for the US commitment to help India with Covid 19 vaccines.

Similarly Veep Harris has also spoken to Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei and Prime Minister Keith Rowley, Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden unveiled his global vaccine sharing plan wherein he committed 8 crore vaccine doses for nations across the world. He reiterated: “We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions. We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic.”

President Biden’s change in policy may have resulted in order to stem growing criticism from across the world that the US was sitting on a huge stockpile of Covid 19 vaccines that it did not have any requirement for even as the surge of death due to the pandemic continued worldwide due to a deadly second wave.

While committing to supply about 8 crore vaccines to other countries by June, the first tranche of the US vaccines will comprise about 2.5 crore doses to various countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

While 60 lakh vaccine doses will be sent to Central and South America, 70 lakh will be for Asia while 50 lakh shots will be Africa-bound. Another 60 lakh vaccine doses will be directly shipped to Mexico, Canada, South Korea and Palestinian areas.

“Just over 60 lakh doses will be shared directly with countries experiencing surges, those in crisis, and other partners and neighbors, including Canada, Mexico, India, and the Republic of Korea. There will be approximately 70 lakh for South and Southeast Asia. India’s share would be roughly 10 lakh,” says Prof Kumar Sanjay Singh, a keen watcher of strategic developments who teaches at a Delhi University college.

“Indian efforts to procure vaccines from the US didn’t elicit response commensurate to the lip service of top ranking US officials regarding their gratitude towards Indian supply of HCQ (Hydroxychloroquine) during the first wave of covid19 pandemic.”

But what is interesting here is that of the total 8 crore vaccines committed by the US to the rest of the world, about 6 crore doses are reported to be of AstraZeneca (Covishield in India).

Till now, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorised only three vaccines that can be used against Covid 19—Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen).

On April 26, during a White House briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki had indicated that 6 crore AstraZeneca vaccine doses may be ready before June.

Psaki had said during the April 26 briefing: “… given AstraZeneca is not authorized for use in the United States, we do not need to use AstraZeneca in our fight against COVID over the next few months. We expect there to be approximately 10 million (1 core) doses that could be released if/when the FDA—if or when the FDA gives its concurrence, which could happen in the coming weeks. So this is not immediate…. And there is an estimated additional 50 million (5 crore) doses that are in various stages of production. These could be completed in stages across May and June.”

“The US is sitting atop a stockpile of AstraZeneca vaccines that it cannot use as it hasn't been given emergency approval. These vaccines could have passed their shelf life. Of the remaining 2 crore doses it will be interesting to know the share of Johnson and Johnson vaccine, as there seems to be hesitancy towards its use in the US,” adds Prof Singh.

Given the acute shortage of vaccines in India and the acute need to ramp up its production, the US vaccine assistance to the world at large and India specifically seems to be too little and very late.

As of Thursday (June 3, 2021), India had administered 22.41 crore vaccine doses in the country. On Thursday itself, 26.37 lakh people received their first shot while 2.37 lakh people were administered their second dose.