US Senators ask President Biden to work with India on Covid vaccinations

*Paromita Das

Members of the prominent Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the United States have encouraged US President Joe Biden to push vaccine collaboration with India in order to eliminate the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to Biden dated March 10, Texas delegation members and other members (Hispanic areas) asked the administration to lead the distribution of low-cost vaccines to low-income nations with poor vaccination rates in order to save millions of lives and end the global epidemic.

The parliamentarians requested the President to use the two vaccines developed as a result of India-US collaborations for the benefit of the global community and to address vaccine disparity through Corbevax and Covovax.

While the CORBEVAX vaccine is patent-free, another vaccine created by the American biotechnology company Novavax is now being manufactured in India and will be exported to the COVAX facility.

“We believe the United States has an opportunity to advocate these vaccines developed by American expertise for nations where vaccine disparity is wreaking havoc on some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people,” the legislators wrote.

“To that end, the United States can work with other countries to ensure an equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. We want the White House to consider using these vaccinations in collaboration with countries throughout the world, similar to the QUAD vaccine project, and to ensure equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine “they stated.

Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, Vice Chair of the House Armed Services Committee and Democratic Women’s Caucus; Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, House Judiciary and House Financial Services Committees; Congresswoman Vicente Gonzalez, House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Congresswoman Jimmy Gomez, Vice Chair of the House Committees on Oversight and Reform and Ways and Means, signed the letter.

This letter is in addition to those written by the powerful Congressional Black Caucus, which praised India’s government for its efforts to assist Africa and the Caribbean.

The letter, signed by the Caucus’ Chairwoman, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, also named India as a key partner in the fight to eradicate vaccine inequities in the poor world.

Congressmen Michael San Nicolas, Juan Vargas, Jim Costa, Darren Soto, Ro Khanna, and Linda Sanchez all signed the letter.

For more than a year, India’s Ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and India’s diplomatic missions have concentrated on promoting India-US vaccine cooperation with the US Congress, administration, think tanks, and industry.

Over 100 members of the House of Representatives have supported India’s petition for a TRIPS waiver at the WTO for COVID-19 vaccines as a consequence of congressional outreach.

Notably, there was also targeted outreach to key Caucuses on this topic, including the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the Congressional Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Caucus.

Earlier, the Chairs of the three Caucuses wrote to President Biden, urging him to work with countries to reduce vaccination inequities.

The embassy hosted a vaccine discussion last month, with participation from wealthy American business tycoon Bill Gates, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan, and Dr Peter Hotez, among others.

The case for India-US vaccine partnerships to be used in other nations was also made by Ambassador Sandhu in a recent Houston Chronicle OpEd.

According to the parliamentarians, the CORBEVAX vaccine was just granted emergency use authorization by India’s drug regulatory authorities.

Biological E Limited, an Indian vaccine company, is now producing 100 million doses per month and has already sold 300 million doses to the Indian government.

“India is a shining example of CORBEVAX’s enormous international potential for low- and middle-income countries.”

“We continue to seek the federal government and G7 nations for support to co-develop this recombinant protein vaccine with new partners in low-resource countries and should CORBEVAX file domestically,” lawmakers stated.

They also encouraged the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider authorising the vaccine for emergency use.

“Waiting to support the use of this vaccine on a global scale will jeopardise millions of lives,” the lawmakers wrote. “We encourage the administration to promote the use of CORBEVAX globally.”