COVID-19: Indians want US to help us, but Biden is not interested

It’s known that the US has this year stopped exporting raw-materials that go into manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines. As a result, India’s capabilities have faced headwinds. This was recently highlighted by Serum Institute of India, the manufacturer of Covishield vaccines. 

In the light of this, there are requests to the US from columnists, journalists and civil society leaders. In a Bloomberg column, a columnist opines that the US must lift the embargo on the export of special sterile filters, disposable bags for cell cultures, cell culture media and single-use tubing. “The embargo has led to major bottlenecks,” she writes. 

She also says that the US is in a position to export 20 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. These doses are lying unused in America. The US also has a purchase agreement for 100 million Johnson & Johnson doses. It may be recalled that America recently stopped using the vaccine after six individuals who had taken it developed blood clots. The potential side effects are stopping the authorities from giving a go-ahead. 

On his part, Joe Biden, the President of US, doesn’t seem to be interested in helping India as of now.