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Vaccines, raw material supplies to be key part of Jaishankar’s US visit
Jaishankar will meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York and secretary of state Antony Blinken in Washington as part of his visit to the US during May 24-28, the external affairs ministry announced on Friday
Covid-19 vaccines and the lingering impact of a US law on exports of vaccine raw materials are expected to figure prominently in external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s interactions with senior American officials during his visit to the US next week.
Jaishankar will meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York and secretary of state Antony Blinken in Washington as part of his visit to the US during May 24-28, the external affairs ministry announced on Friday.
He will also meet cabinet members and senior officials of the Biden administration dealing with bilateral relations and have two interactions with business forums on economic and Covid-related cooperation between India and the US, the ministry said in a brief statement.
People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that ways to ramp up India’s procurement and production of Covid-19 vaccines are set to be a key part of the minister’s interactions with his US interlocutors.
“This will include discussions on allocation of vaccines from the US stockpiles of 80 million doses that are set to be distributed by June,” one of the people cited above said.
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The continuing impact of the US Defense Production Act, which was invoked by President Joe Biden in February to restrict exports of vaccine raw materials, is also expected to figure in the discussions, the people said.
“The US hasn’t imposed a ban on vaccine raw materials and they diverted some of the raw materials from their own orders to India but this has resulted in the raw materials coming in dribs and drabs,” a second person said.
“Indian vaccine manufacturers say they can’t draw up plans to ramp up production in a big way until they are assured of raw material supplies in a timely manner,” the second person added.
Though the external affairs ministry didn’t provide details of Jaishankar’s planned meetings with business leaders, the people didn’t rule out the possibility of interactions with representatives of key US vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
The US announced recently that it plans to distribute 20 million doses of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines from its surplus stocks by the end of June. This will be in addition to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which isn’t authorised for use in the US and will be donated after clearance by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Gayle Smith, the coordinator for the US global Covid-19 response, has said a substantial part of the 80 million doses will be rolled out through the WHO-backed COVAX facility. US officials have also spoken of plans for the joint production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in India.
The people cited above said India is expecting doses from the US both through COVAX and directly. Reports have said India is lobbying to get at least 35% of the 60 million AstraZeneca doses.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday India is engaged with US entities on procuring vaccines and manufacturing them in India subsequently.
This will be Jaishankar’s second in-person meeting with Blinken since they held talks on the margins of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in London on May 3 and it will allow them to discuss issues such as resilient supply chains, the American pullout from Afghanistan, India’s dragging military standoff with China and the Indo-Pacific, the people said.
