India may benefit with 80mn spare vaccines shared by US: President Biden

US President Joe Biden on Monday declared that the United States will initiate the shipping of 20 million doses of vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for the unspecified needy countries till the end of June along with 60 million doses of AstraZeneca’s that have priorly been assured for distribution subjected to authorisation by the drug regulator.

Though there is no clear indication of the proportion in which the 80 million doses will be supplied to the countries who require it and India will be one of the beneficiaries. However, there is no clarity the vaccine received will be from AstraZeneca which is being manufactured in India as Covishield, or Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Biden stated, “Today, I’m announcing that we’ll also share US-authorised vaccines doses of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, as they become available, with the rest of the world as well.”

The shipping will begin by June end, Biden said. He added, “when we’ll have taken delivery of enough of such vaccines to protect everyone in the United States.”

Biden’s announcement is a categorical dedication of his administration to share the vaccines which can be spared. Based on the statistics, nearly 48 % Americans have received the first dose for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and a single dose of Johnson & Johnson’s.
According to his announcement, the US will be shipping 80 million doses overseas, accounting for 13 % of the vaccines produced by the United States.
He further said, “This will be more vaccines than any country has actually shared to date — five times more than any other country — more than Russia and China, which have donated 15 million doses.”

President Biden’s government has been under constant pressure from the lawmakers to deliver the vaccines to the needy countries especially India with the aggressive devastation of the ongoing second wave of the pandemic.

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