COVID-19: US keen to develop vaccine with India; more SAARC virtual meets on cards

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 1

Global leaders have stepped up conversations to ensure the continuance of global supply chains and coordinate a united response to the health and economic challenges thrown up by the COVID-19 epidemic, said highly placed officials here.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called up External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday evening to discuss the prospects of a closer all-round Indo-US partnership in combating Covid besides exchanging notes on the extension of visas and the Afghan situation.

Senior State Department official Alice G Wells in a social media post flagged the possibility of an Indo-US collaboration to discover a vaccine on the lines of their successful partnership on rotavirus vaccine.

While engaging with regional and global multilateral organisations like SAARC and G-20, Indian embassies are scouring foreign markets for items that are in great demand but in short supply such as ventilators and N-95 and surgical masks.

In parallel, the Ministries of Health and Textiles are encouraging domestic companies to ramp up their production.

Sources again reiterated that the PM-CARES fund is open to foreign donations. India is also accepting donations such as protective clothes, masks, respirators and ventilators from independent sources like Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundation.

Chinese state-owned companies are also providing assistance to their Indian partners, according to Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong.

In China, the Indian mission and its consulates are also actively looking for personal protection equipment (PPE) which is in “huge shortage” in India, according to sources.

While India is inclined to a discussion on Covid epidemic at the UN Security Council (UNSC), it is aware of the fact that the opinion of five permanent members is decisive.

Hence, it is continuing to step up regional and global coordination efforts.

Having operationalised the SAARC Covid Emergency Fund announced by PM Narendra Modi at a virtual summit on March 15, SAARC will hold a teleconference this weekend among its commerce ministers to tackle challenges on the trade front.

This was an aspect that was also discussed by Pompeo and Jaishankar.

“Our close cooperation is imperative to combat the coronavirus, including strengthening global pharmaceutical and healthcare manufacturing and supply chains,” Pompeo had said, according to the US State Department.

India has so far evacuated 2,500 of its citizens besides arranging for the return of another 1,600 who were stuck at the airports. It has also sent about 5,000 foreign nationals and more are expected to leave in the coming days.

The first India-US collaboration in vaccine development was for rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrheal diseases in children worldwide.

It began in 1990 and led to the production and supply of over three crore doses of Rotovac vaccine to children in India.

Among those who contributed technical, manufacturing and financial resources toward vaccine development were Society for Applied Studies, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AIIMS (India), IISc (India), Department of Biotechnology (India), Stanford University School of Medicine, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Bharat Biotech, UK Department for International Development and the Research Council of Norway.