A group of US lawmakers have written to US president Joe Biden to work with India closely to vaccinate lower and middle income countries against Covid-19 earlier this week.
Democrat party lawmakers Linda T. Sánchez, Ro Khanna, Darren Soto, Jim Costa, Jimmy Gomez, Michael F.Q. San Nicolas, Juan Vargas, Veronica Escobar, Vicente Gonzalez and Sylvia R. Garcia wrote to US president Joe Biden to work with India to end global vaccine inequity.
The lawmakers outlined that the vaccines CORBEVAX and Novavax have potential to take the fight to Covid-19 in lower and middle-income nations that are yet to expand their vaccine coverage to all eligible citizens. “India is a shining example of the immense international potential CORBEVAX holds for low- and middle-income countries. Indian vaccine manufacturer Biological E Ltd is now making 100 million doses per month and has already sold 300 million doses to the Indian government,” the letter signed by these lawmakers said.
“The US has the opportunity to champion these vaccines created by American expertise for countries where vaccine inequality is taking its toll… The US can partner with like minded countries to ensure an equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine,” the letter further added.
The lawmakers also asked Biden to use these vaccines in a manner similar to how the QUAD vaccine initiative operates to end global vaccine inequality.
It is worth mentioning that earlier Republican lawmaker Michael McCaul and Democratic lawmaker Joaquin Castro led a bipartisan initiative when they wrote to Biden to work with India to expand US vaccine diplomacy. Both lauded Hyderabad-based Biological E’s CORBEVAX vaccine and asked Biden to work with India to stop China and Russia from expanding their own vaccine initiatives.
Meanwhile, lawmaker Joyce Beatty who heads the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) lauded India’s efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ohio lawmaker wrote to Indian envoy to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu expressing her gratitude towards India for taking steps to restore normalcy and economic activity in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“I write to express appreciation for the nation of India’s global efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic… I laud your government’s efforts, as it has selflessly shared over 8 million vaccines with at least thirty-eight countries,” Beatty wrote, highlighting India’s role to end global vaccine inequity.
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