S Jaishankar Likely to Visit United States for Vaccine Procurement Issue

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is likely to visit the United States in the coming week, the visit is at the planning stage. There is no official announcement of the visit yet.

India is engaged in talks with various US entities involved in Covid vaccines production and is looking forward to procuring and subsequently producing these vaccines.

The issue of vaccine procurement is expected to be a key agenda item during Jaishankar's interaction with US leadership and other stakeholders.

The US has already announced that it is going to distribute 80 million vaccines from its stockpile to countries in need.

As India is struck badly by the second wave, so efforts of New Delhi will be to get maximum and also looking for tie-ups with vaccine developers to produce in India.

US has a stockpile 60 million Astra Zeneca vaccine and also Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

US is playing a lead role in assisting India's fight against the COVID-19 virus. It has already provided large oxygen plants, concentrators, critical medicines like Remdesivir and also raw materials for vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII), which is manufacturing Covishield.

US is also backing India sponsored proposal on TRIPS waiver at the WTO.

The TRIPS waiver aims to increase global vaccine production in order to take on the challenge of vaccinating the poorest of the poor and save lives.

In October last year, India and South Africa, along with 57 members of WTO proposed a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement for prevention, containment, and treatment of the coronavirus.

EAM Jaishankar met his US counterpart Antony Blinken in early May in London during G7 Foreign Minister's meeting.