India will receive a share of the 80 million (8 crores) unused COVID-19 vaccines through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme that President Joe Biden has announced, a senior State Department official said on Thursday. On June 2, Biden announced that the US would allocate 75 percent of the coronavirus vaccines from its stockpile— nearly 1.9 crores of the first tranche of 2.5 crore doses—through the United Nations-backed Covax global vaccine sharing program to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa.
According to the White House fact sheet, around 19 million (1.9 crore) vaccines will share through COVAX. State Department spokesman Ned Price said, "I don't have the specific details on when the shipment of vaccines will be arriving in India. Of course, India will be in receipt of a share of those 80 million vaccines and through COVAX. I believe there were some six million vaccines destined for the region."
Price further said, "We know that India has suffered tremendously with this pandemic. We have done in the case of these vaccines. But also as we did even prior to this vaccine sharing announcement. We have demonstrated our commitment to work closely with our partners in India."
"This is also in addition to the tremendous generosity that we have seen from the private sector and the diaspora here in this country that has donated some 400 million additional dollars. So, that's half a billion dollars that the United States government and the people here in the United States have committed to help our friends and to help our partners in India recover from this pandemic," he added.