US President Joe Biden on Monday took to Twitter to say that his Administration is determined to extend its ties with India. Revealing the assurance to provide raw materials required by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, he asserted that the nation is willingly accepting the concerns and are giving their assistance to India in the harsh circumstances.
Feels like ages that India has been under the helm of the coronavirus pandemic, isn’t it? India’s stance towards the crisis has turned from bad to worse as it is in the grip of the second wave of Covid-19. Daily infections are at a record high, and a pall of gloom has descended across the nation. The repercussions of the disease are so massive that India has been urging a plea to its allies for help. A few days back, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla urged the Biden Administration to lift the embargo on the export of raw materials.
Amidst such strengthening ties between the two Quad Nations, The US stance of prioritizing its domestic supply over giving the helping hand to India presumes to be seen as a comprehensive sign. Although, the tireless appeal to the US has worked in favor as recently the top leaders in the US came out in support of India and said that it is providing vaccine shots and uplifting the ban on raw materials. The question perhaps of many Indians is how Biden‘s stance revamped so imminently.
India has been recording more than 3,00,000 daily cases of infections for the sixth straight day. He signified the importance of declining the sufferings of millions of people in India. How miserably the slump has failed while our politicians are least bothered by the dire straits, and our allies including the United States and Saudi Arabia are desperately rushing to impart their capable helping hand.
Embargoes on Export of Raw Materials by the Biden Administration
In February, India’s second wave impotence was profusely in control and it seemed like we would be out of the crisis in some months. Previewing the stance of Covid-19 cases in The United States, the Biden Administration invoked the Defense Production Act which gives the authority to control the distribution of products. By revoking its ascendancy to stricter protocols, the government engorged to curb the export of raw materials Critical for vaccine production.
The curb was integrated as the woes were critical in America. At the time, the US did not comment whether it would ease the ban on the export of vaccine raw materials which are the essence for the production of Covidshield vaccine. However, it postulated that arrangements were in place between the US and the members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad on vaccine production, and also increasing the capacity of supply to India. The primitive reason for blocking the export was the subsequent demand for vaccines in America across the eligible community.
In November last year, American Pharmaceutical Company Pfizer Inc. reverberated the situation to be grim as there was a huge shortage of raw material available with the health departments. The target for vaccinating the people was somewhere around 120 million, but it had to be revised due to constant triggering shortfall. Biden’s promising approach to progress with the vaccination program had been hindered, and it sought to prioritize the domestic needs.
The promptness of the decision showed India’s incompetence as it did not validate on prioritizing its indigenous inoculation of the vaccine, instead thought of varnishing its image in the international markets. Well, surely we can see the results now. When the US is preparing to be back on track with its economy and is ramping up its vaccine procedure, India, on the other hand, is slowly leveraging towards more fatalities and a spike in cases. Interesting!
Change of Stance Will Help India to Constrain the Spread of the Virus
President Joe Biden has been a man of supremacy when it comes to helping its allies. Looking at the current scenario, India’s national security advisor Ajit Doval‘s telephonic conversation with his US Counterpart Jake Sullivan had a tethering effect on the change of minds by the United States. The government issued a tweet through the microblogging platform referring to the urgent requirement of oxygen concentrators in India. The State’s change in stance will procure and stabilize the crippling crisis of the ailing Indian system.
The largest vaccine manufacturing alliance in the world was facing an erratic shortage of doses. How extravagantly we have carved our nemesis is a thing that no country has been able to build. If it wasn’t for the dozen of countries extending their brace to their Indian counterparts, our situation is entitled to deteriorate in the coming months.
US President claimed that the assistance provided is a sign of gratitude towards India for helping the nation when the American hospitals got strained in the dire of the pandemic. Millions of people are arguing the Modi Government for its ineptitude, and they are in erotic doubts whether the supply received from allies reaches the right place at the right time or not.
“The United States has identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine that will immediately be made available for India,” quoted in a statement issued by NSC spokesperson Emily Horne. Sullivan had also asserted that the US would remove the impediments of export of critical integrant needed for vaccine production in India.
Following the conversation conducted between both the National security advisors, the White House released an eminent claim. The divulgence released said that the United States pinpointed supplies of therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators, and PPE kits that will be subsequently made available to India.
The urgent cries of Indian citizens are getting heard on the global level, and it might uplift the situation the slightest of lost grip. The appeal of the Indian government has worked, but the next hurdle is procuring and delivering the supplies to needy people. The Defense Secretary of the United States, Lloyd Austin, came out in succulence of the Indian sub-continent and said that we would overcome the crisis together.
India is Obtaining Global Support
In times of crisis, India’s associations with the world economies are handing effective results. Although on the other hand, it shows its overreliance on India on its allies for supplies needed to curb the double mutant of the virus. Medical supplies to India are getting initiated from distinctive parts of the world, including France, UAE, Denmark, Singapore, Israel, and some EU nations.
The US standalone is comprehending with its promise as it sent 318 oxygen concentrators to the National Capital. The tankers got delivered through an Air India flight. Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu got extremely inundated by the overwhelming gesture of the US. He thanked both US Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Sullivan for recognizing the significance of the plight and promptly responding to the hasty requisites.
Not the only US, but the Australian government helped the Indian authorities in the dire of the hour. The Australian Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt reported that the federal government is seeking to rush ventilators stockpiled to India. While all of this seems appealing, the predicament has cost thousands of lives, and the situation is only getting worse. The concerning talking point has been the fact that the government has known this for months. The particular request to the foreign countries has related to the oxygen supply.
Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, posted the list on Twitter according to the requirements. In the coming days, the US will dispatch raw materials, vaccine production, therapeutics, rapid diagnostic kits, ventilators, oxygen generation and related supplies, financial support for vaccine manufacturing expansion, deployment of public health teams from the US Centre for Disease Control and the US Agency for International Development.
The Raw Materials Will Ramp Up the Vaccine Production
India’s daily tally of infections had hit a new record high on Sunday when it breached the 350,000 marks for the fifth consecutive day. The death toll has surpassed levels of throbbing as Sunday’s count was around 2,800. The situation is grim, and the only way out of this crisis would be by procuring adequate treatment and ramping up the vaccine production. The confiscation has been maximized by the government’s ignorance towards ensuring that the nation’s position is in good hands.
Two vaccines that are optimized in the race towards curbing the spread in India include Oxford University-AstraZeneca shot, revocated in India as Covishield by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech‘s Covaxin. The combination of the two vaccines comprises the country’s only indigenous vaccine against the disease. The US Administration is riveting its efforts in maximizing the manufacturing capability of India.
With the implementation of a substantial expansion, the indigenous vaccination BioE will get funded to ramp up to produce at least 1 billion doses by the end of 2022. The export ban had its critics who slammed America for hoarding vaccines and impeding the production of the virus during the grave of the crisis. The comparison of the export ban was grafted to India’s follow the path of humanity first, which has served its allies well.
India’s expectation after the current exponential Covid-19 surge was to ban the export of the vaccination supply. The government didn’t adhere to the demands of the citizens. Hence we are grappling with the repercussions. The US has intensified the supplying pace to India and is integrating complaint efforts so that the vast majority of the population could get vaccinated.
India’s Grim Situation Can Resolve by Collective Valiant Efforts
Momentarily, we should cooperate our requirements to the organizations volunteering the supply of beds and other facilities. It is imperative due to the past experiences we had seen during the first wave when the government did not adhere to enough supplies. The story, as it turns out, India is getting the required consolidated support it needs for evading the strains of the pandemic.
But with the State of affairs deteriorating with the clock tickling, it remains congenial that the government prioritizes safety and healthcare. If at any point in time, the politicians should lead by example, it is now. Nothing comes above saving the lives of thousands of citizens. Indians are becoming fearful of giving up and are losing all their faith in the healthcare system and the government.
The US revoked its integrity above political matters, and if by the slightest of means India wants to stop the transmission trend, then it must follow the footsteps of its alliance nation. It is a collective strive towards normalcy, and our cooperation in staying home and staying safe is as significant as any remarkably.
