India will begin commercial shipments of Covid-19 vaccines to Brazil and Morocco on Friday, followed by Saudi Arabia and South Africa, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi tries to brush up on his credentials as a major world leader.
“There is huge international demand for our vaccines,” Secretary of State Harsh Shringla told Bloomberg TV in an interview. “We expect more global players to collaborate with their Indian pharma counterparts healthcare sectors. This likely goes beyond relocating parts of supply chains to India. We expect collaborations, production and R&D ties in this area. “
Secretary of State Harsh Shringla discusses vaccine proliferation in India and ties to the new US government in an interview with Bloomberg’s Rishaad Salamat.
Massive vaccination starts in India despite safety concerns
The vaccinations exported to date have been manufactured by the Serum Institute of India Ltd. – the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume – with which it collaborated AstraZeneca Plc to make at least one billion doses from their injection. Brazil has the world’s third largest coronavirus epidemic, after India and the US, and has one late start of the vaccination campaign, leaving Latin American colleagues, including Mexico and Argentina, behind.
Supply chains
India expects to house global drug supply chains and will work with President Joe Biden’s government to build trade and security ties, Shringla said.
Last year, Modi promised that India’s vaccine delivery and manufacturing capacity would ‘be used to help all of humanity fight the Covid-19 pandemic and it is in line with this view that we have responded positively to requests for delivery of in India manufactured vaccines from all countries. all over the world, ”Shringla said.
UK, Belgium Among countries looking for cheaper vaccines made in India
India began introducing the domestic coronavirus vaccine on January 16 using both Serum’s Covishield and its native developed inoculation of Bharat Biotech International Ltd. and began sending vaccines to six neighboring countries on Wednesday: Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, the Maldives and the Seychelles. It is also awaiting permission from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius to broadcast the shots, India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
India says it can increase its production of Covid-19 vaccines to 500 million a month for export as it sparks interest from the UK, Belgium and countries in the Middle East and Africa seeking access to cheaper vaccinations.
Trade negotiations
Commercial deliveries of Indian vaccines will go to several other countries in Africa, Latin America, the Pacific states and the United Nations, Shringla said. While the initiative is part of India’s economic campaign of ‘self-reliance’, the country expects to partner with the US in building ‘supply chains for medicines, sensitive technologies and minerals’.
India expects to resume trade talks with the US and “looks forward to a limited trade deal,” followed by an expanded one, the Secretary of State added. The US is India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $ 150 billion in 2019.
New Delhi also hopes to partner with Biden to strengthen maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and to fight terrorism, Shringla said.
India is in talks with China to “effect a possible withdrawal. That process is currently underway, ”he said. “We are clear at the level of our senior leadership that we will do what we can to maintain that dialogue and do what we can to find a solution that is in the best interest of both countries”
India’s border dispute with China with thousands of troops stationed at their Himalayan borders has been at a deadlock with no resolution since May last year despite several rounds of military and diplomatic talks.
– With the help of Adrian Wong
(Updates everywhere with details)