Washington: US President Joe Biden said that the Quad alliance will help India produce at least one billion vaccine doses by the end of 2022 to boost global supplies.
Addressing the UN COVID Summit, Biden said, “Our Quad partnerships with India, Japan, and Australia will help India produce at least one billion vaccine doses by the end of 2022 to boost global supply.” He announced that the US would buy 50 million doses of Pfizer to send the vaccine to low and middle-income countries around the world. These doses would be shipped by this time next year.
He further said, ‘The US is leading the world in vaccination, we need to fulfill our own ambitious vaccine donations and promises to other high-income countries. Leaders from Africa and Indonesia, private sector figures, and representatives of non-governmental organizations. Biden led the world in one of four sessions on vaccination.
The Pfizer doses will be produced in the US and donated to low-income and lower-middle-income countries through Covax, a global vaccine sharing system that begins in January and runs until next September. Biden also announced $370 million in US funding to help with vaccine administration overseas.
The new US commitment is on top of a 500 million-dose donation announced at the Group of Seven summit in the UK in June after the distribution of those vaccines began last month. With 130 million doses shipped to date, which were initially purchased for home use. The US donation total is now at least 1.13 billion doses. Which is more than double the total distributed domestically.
PM Modi embarked on a three-day visit to the United States from September 22-25 where he will address the United Nations General Assembly and attend the Quad Summit as well as hold bilateral meetings with US President Joe Biden at the White House. Modi is accompanied by a high-level delegation which includes National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, and senior officials.
