Minister is due to meet U.S. officials on sharing stockpile, early EUA. Officials, however, stressed that vaccine procurement is not the “only agenda” for the EAM’s visit as discussions on the Indo-Pacific, Quad cooperation and strategic issues will also take place. However, a substantial part of Mr. Jaishankar’s discussions with the U.S. State Department will focus on requests for Washington to share its stockpile of AstraZeneca vaccines, as well as to release more vaccine ingredients and components required for manufacturing in India. And his discussions with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “Global Task Force” for industry heads will include many pharmaceutical companies, where stepping up India’s vaccine imports will be on the agenda. Suppliers’ constraintsAccording to officials, India has already been in touch with all three U.S. vaccine manufacturers — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — to try and smooth the way for vaccines to be made available in India.

Source: The Hindu May 27, 2021 14:31 UTC