The White House acknowledged the crucial role of India played in supplying vaccines against Covid-19 globally and said that the country is an important manufacturer of vaccines for the world, according to the news agency PTI.
In a news conference here on Tuesday, Dr. Ashish Jha, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator said, “Because of its incredible manufacturing capacity, (India) has been a major exporter of vaccines.
He said that the QUAD partnership on coronavirus was important to the Joe Biden administration. QUAD is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.
“I think India is an important manufacturer of vaccines for the world. I mean not just for India itself, this is a really important thing,” he said at the White House news conference, PTI reported.
Dr. Jha further defended the Biden administration’s decision to supply vaccines to the world and said the US will continue making them available for every low and several low and middle-income country.
“There are about 100 countries that are eligible to get free vaccines through COVAX — where we donate the vaccines still available for donation,” he said. According to Dr. Jha, every major variant that hit the US originated from outside the country.
“So, the notion that we can somehow wall ourselves off and not be affected by what’s happening in the rest of the world is just naïve,” he said as quoted by PTI.
“It’s just not how transmissible viruses like this work. So even if you think about it from very narrow self-interest, it’s very important that we get much of the world vaccinated, that we help build out the kind of vaccination program. But beyond self-interest, you know, America is a country that has deeply engaged in the world,” he added.
Dr. Jha claimed that Biden had restored American leadership on global health in a way that is ‘very different from the previous President’.
“So, for a whole set of reasons, it’s very, very important that America continues to lead, €4.02 billion is a small investment to make to better protect Americans and better protect the world,” he was quoted by PTI.
