Vaccine gifts of 2-3 million doses may have little impact on India: officialsThe government on Friday welcomed the U.S. decision to lift restrictions under its Defence Production Act on the export of vaccine ingredients to AstraZeneca vaccine manufacturers worldwide, which would help the Serum Institute of India produce more doses. “Indian diplomacy is focussed on securing the vaccine supply chain,” said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who had raised the issue of easing U.S. exports of vaccine ingredients and components to India during his visit to Washington last week. On Thursday, the U.S. White House announced that it was relaxing export restrictions for U.S. companies to supply manufacturers of AstraZeneca, Novavax, and Sanofi vaccines. It is also unclear how quickly these vaccines could be distributed in India, given procedures and approvals required. Bhutan, which needs its second dose of about 5,50,000 AstraZeneca vaccines by the end of June has also requested the U.S. to provide these.

Source: The Hindu June 04, 2021 16:30 UTC