Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the phone yesterday with Indian-origin Vice President of the United States of America Kamala Harris regarding making COVID vaccines available to India and other nations.
Harris informed the Indian PM about US plans to make vaccines against COVID-19 available to other countries, including India, under its 'Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing'.
The PM expressed his appreciation to Vice President Harris for the US decision, as well as for all other forms of support and solidarity that India has received in recent days from the US government, businesses and the Indian diaspora community in the US.
Initial estimates suggest India will get about 2-3 million doses in the first tranche of doses via COVAX and directly from the US.
A US statement said that the administration will begin sharing the “first 25 million doses of COVID vaccines” with countries as part of the framework for sharing at least 80 million vaccines globally by the end of June.
The leaders also discussed ongoing efforts to strengthen the health supply chain between the US and India, including in the area of vaccine manufacturing. They highlighted the potential of the India-US partnership as well as the Quad vaccine initiative in addressing the long-term health impact of the pandemic.
PM Modi said he hoped to welcome Vice President Harris in India soon after the normalisation of the global health situation.
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