India to make available 8 mn doses of J&J Covid vax: PM Modi at Quad Summit

India will make available 8 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine by the end of October under the Quad vaccine partnership, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Friday informed.

Shringla said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement in the regard at the Summit. The Foreign Secretary added that the Quad nations, including India, will pay for the vaccines.

The leaders of the US, India, Australia and Japan held the first in-person Quad leaders meeting in Washington. During the meeting, they reaffirmed their commitment to work together to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

"They took stock of the factors that would address the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, the vaccine partnership this is considered the most important of the deliverables the Quad is looking at the most immediate and most imminent in view of the concerns with COVID-19," he said.

"In that context, Prime Minister [Modi] announced not only the resumption of vaccines export but at the request of Quad, Prime Minister said that India would make available 8 million doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine which is Jensen vaccine which is manufactured in India by the Biological E. This would be ready by the end of October compatible with our decision to resume vaccine export. Quad will pay for the vaccine and India will bear a certain share of those. This is an immediate delivery from the Quad into the Indo Pacific region," he added.

In his opening remarks at the Quad summit, Prime Minister Modi said that that the Quad vaccine initiative will help Indo-Pacific nations as the world is battling with COVID-19.

Prime Minister said that the world is battling with COVID-19 and the Quad members again came together in the interest of humanity.

In March, the India-US-Japan-Australia Quadrilateral initiative, or Quad decided to build a first-of-its-kind joint vaccine supply chain to address the current and any future pandemic situations in the Indo-Pacific region.

Vaccines will be developed in the US, manufactured in India, financed by Japan and the US, and supported by Australia through logistics for the Indo-Pacific including island states.

"Our Quad vaccine initiative will help Indo-Pacific nations. Quad decided to go ahead with a positive approach on basis of our shared democratic values. I would be happy to discuss with my friends-be it supply chain, global security, climate action, COVID response or tech cooperation," PM Modi said at Quad Leaders' Summit.

"I express my gratitude to President Joe Biden for the first in-person Quad meeting. Four countries, for the first time, came together to help the Indo-Pacific region after the 2004 Tsunami. Today when the world is battling with COVID-19, we being the Quad members are again came together in the interest of humanity," he added.

Recently, the Indian government announced that the country will resume exports of COVID-19 vaccines in the October quarter, prioritising the global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX and keeping the neighbouring countries first as supplies rise.