Quad Nations To Announce Financial Boost For India’s Covid-19 Vaccine, Says US Official

Mumbai: A senior US administration official told Reuters that the leaders of the Quad Nations on Friday announced financing agreements to support the increase in manufacturing capacity of the coronavirus vaccine in India for the first time.

The financing agreements will be between the United States, Japan and others and will focus exclusively on companies and institutions in India that manufacture vaccines for American drugmakers Novavax Inc and Johnson & Johnson, the official, who did not want to be identified by name, said.

The official said the Quad’s initiative is aimed at building the United States, India, Japan and Australia to reduce manufacturing backlogs, vaccinate speeds and beat some coronovirus mutations.

“The idea is that the sooner you can vaccinate, the more you can defeat some of these mutations. So this is a capability that will come online later this year, and it will collectively increase our capacity.

Officially stated that some additional vaccine capacity manufactured in India will be used in vaccination efforts in Southeast Asian countries.

The White House announced earlier on Tuesday that President Joe Biden would attend an offline Quad meeting on Friday, the first leader-level meeting of a group as part of efforts to contain China’s growing military and economic power.

White House spokeswoman Jane Saki said she hopes to discuss issues facing the global community “from the threat of Kovid, economic cooperation and … the climate crisis.”

India has urged other IV members to invest in their vaccine production capacity in an effort to counter China’s extensive vaccine diplomacy.

(With Reuters Inputs)

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