The United States on Tuesday, 13 July, said that it is awaiting the Indian government's permission to send COVID-19 vaccines to the country.
"We are ready to ship the vaccines expeditiously when we have a green light from the Government of India," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference, PTI reported.
As per reports, Government of India has told the American authorities that it needs more time to review legal provisions regarding the allowance of emergency vaccine imports.
The Joe Biden Administration has claimed to share 80 million vaccine doses from its domestic stockpile with foreign countries, including India.
In recent weeks, over 40 million doses of vaccines from the US have reached Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh among other countries.
Price stated, "Before we can ship those doses, however, each country must complete its own domestic set of operational, of regulatory, and legal processes that are specific to each country."
He informed that American vaccine doses will reach India "expeditiously" on the completion of legal processes, adding that "we would need to refer you to the Government of India on the status of its discussions with COVAX, which, in this case, is helping to facilitate that delivery," PTI reported.
Answering another question, Price stated that the COVID-19 cooperation between the two countries is built on decades of successful partnership in health and biomedical research.
US-India Efforts Amid COVID
He added, "We are partnering to strengthen the global response to COVID-19 on issues ranging from addressing infectious disease outbreaks to strengthening health systems to securing global supply chains," PTI reported.
Both nations are currently involved in a collaboration through the International Center of Excellence for Research focused on infectious diseases, which includes COVID-19 and other emerging threats.
Price also expressed that the US looks forward to reaching a broader memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance health cooperation beyond that.
The two countries are further working on COVID-related diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines to deal with the disease and making critical drugs available globally.
Price said, "We are able to do that because India's pharmaceutical sector is strong, it's well-established, it has played a central role in manufacturing vaccines for global use over some time. We are pleased that US pharmaceutical companies in turn are coordinating with their Indian counterparts since the beginning of the pandemic," PTI reported.
(With inputs from PTI)
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