US will share a 'substantial' number of Covid-19 vaccine doses with India

Exact number yet to be frozen; first tranche of 25 mn shots earmarked from Asia, LatAm, Africa

As a part of its global vaccine sharing strategy, the United States will share a ‘substantial’ number of its surplus Covid-19 vaccine doses with India, a US government official said on Friday.

The official, however, said that the US is yet to finalize the exact number of doses that will be allocated to India and as well as other countries.

“We want to be careful about putting a number out there yet, because we want to work on those pieces. I think there will be a substantial number,” Gayle E Smith, US state department coordinator for global Covid response and health security said.

“We have some notional planning, but refinement of the actual numbers will be determined in consultation with the government, health experts, state of their vaccine plans and delivery and with COVAX,” Smith told reporters. The operational work on the type of vaccine that will be shared will have to be worked out with respective countries.

The US will try to match it with the vaccine programmes across various countries, Smith added.

On Thursday, the US government said it plans to share surplus Covid-19 vaccines to lay the ground for increased global coverage and to address real and potential surges, high burdens of disease, and the needs of the most vulnerable countries.

It plans to send the first tranche of 25 million vaccine doses to countries in Asia, Latin America as well as Africa. Three-fourth of the 25 million doses will be shared through COVAX, an international vaccine sharing programme. Of this, select countries in Asia, including India will get seven million doses.

Of the remaining one-fourth or approximately 6 million doses will be targeted toward regional priorities and partner recipients, including Mexico, Canada, Egypt, Jordan, India, among others.

“Our intention is to lead the global vaccine coverage. A lot of work has to be done to actually deliver vaccines. When other countries also share vaccines, then we can get in a position to actually end this global pandemic,” Smith said.

As far as the availability of Astrazeneca vaccine is concerned, Smith said that the availability will depend on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance, without spelling out any timeline. Since FDA is an autonomous regulatory public health regulatory, the government will not interfere.

The US had in the past said it plans to send 60 million AstraZeneca vaccines to various countries. However, it is still undergoing the control checks by the FDA.