Efforts to ramp up the delivery of Covid-19 vaccine doses to developing countries is expected to be a key item on the agenda of the first Quad leaders’ summit on Friday. Here is all you need to know about the summit:
• Leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, which includes India, Australia, Japan and the US, will meet virtually for their first summit on Friday
• They are expected to discuss ways to ramp up vaccine manufacturing by India, the world’s largest producer, and measures to get doses speedily to more developing countries in Asia and Africa.
• Several options are expected to be on the table including forming a group or fund with financial support from Australia, Japan and the US to procure vaccines from Indian manufacturers for developing countries.
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• Another option is using India as a hub for supplying vaccines procured with the Quad’s support to South and South-east Asian countries.
• Japan is expected to help with establishing cold storage facilities for storing vaccines before they are shipped to countries in South and South-east Asia.
{{/usCountry}}• Japan is expected to help with establishing cold storage facilities for storing vaccines before they are shipped to countries in South and South-east Asia.
{{/usCountry}}• Discussions are still on among officials of the four countries to firm up the contours of the plan and financial contributions of the Quad members before the leaders meet on Friday evening.
• The Quad Summit plans to announce financing agreements to back an increase in vaccine manufacturing capacity in India.
• These agreements will focus on companies and institutions in India manufacturing vaccines for American drug majors Novavax and Johnson & Johnson.
• Novavax has a manufacturing arrangement with Pune’s Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest maker of vaccines.
• Johnson & Johnson has a similar arrangement with Biological E Ltd.
• The initiative’s aim is to reduce manufacturing backlogs, speed up vaccination and defeat Coronavirus mutations.
• All these moves are aimed at countering China’s vaccine diplomacy, which initially could not match India’s roll-out of doses since January 21 but has appeared to be catching up in recent days.