Washington: Amid growing cases of Coronavirus In India, Serum Institute of India (CII) CEO Adar Poonawalla recently asked American President Joe Biden to supply vaccine raw materials. It was requested to remove the ban on exports. On this request of Poonawala, a spokesman of the US State Department has now said that the first responsibility of the Biden administration is to take care of the needs of the American people. US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the US understands India’s needs, but the American people are its priority. First, the American people should get the vaccine. Price said that the American public is more influenced by Corona than the rest of the world. Vaccination of the American public will be beneficial not only for America but also for the rest of the world.
Hours after the US response, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met chemicals and fertilizer minister Mansukh Mandavia with vaccine manufacturers including Poonawala in India and discussed the crisis facing the pharmaceuticals industry.
Jaishankar said – India helps the world
Senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Indian Ambassadors in the US, Germany, and the European Union were also present at the meeting. In the context of this meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted that ‘We have been working for the last few weeks to resolve the supply chain issues faced by our pharma industry. The updates and insights received today helped us a lot. We will try to ensure that our supply chain has maximum hope in a difficult global situation. The world should support India because India helps the world.
Apart from Poonawala of Serum Institute, officials of BharatBiotech, Zydus Cadila, Dr. Reddy’s Lab, Biological E Limited, Indian Immunologicals Limited, Panacea Biotech, Cadila Healthcare, Genova Biopharmaceutical, HLL Biotech, and Hafine Bio-Pharmaceuticals were present in this meeting.
Which US law is becoming an obstacle in exports?
Indeed, Biden and former US President Donald Trump have enacted the ‘Defense Production Law’ (DPA) used in wartime under which US companies had Covid-19 vaccines and personal protective equipment (PPE) for domestic production. There is no option left to prioritize the production of so that this deadly epidemic can be dealt with in America.
The US has increased the production of Covid-19 vaccines so that it can vaccinate its entire population by July 4. In such a situation, the suppliers of its raw materials can make this material available only to domestic manufacturers. Recently, Serum Institute of India (SII) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Adar Poonawala said that to increase the production of vaccines, there is a need to lift the ban on the export of raw materials to the US.
SII is currently developing the Coronavirus vaccine ‘Covishield’ developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and is not only being used in India but is also being exported to many countries. He tweeted, tagging Biden’s Twitter handle, ‘Honorable President of America, I humbly request you on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the United States that if we really have to unite to defeat the virus, America’s ban on the export of raw materials outside should be lifted so that the production of vaccines can increase. Your administration has detailed information. ‘SII is the largest producer of Covid-19 vaccines in the world. None of the United States and India have said that India is requesting the United States to lift the ban on the export of raw materials.
