US sends aid to Indian government, health care workers to combat Covid-19 crisis

US sends aid to Indian government, health care workers to combat Covid-19 crisis

US sends aid to Indian government, health care workers to combat Covid-19 crisis

New Delhi : Faced with a public relations disaster in its ties with India, the White House today fielded its top two foreign policy aides to assure that the US will deploy more supplies and support to New Delhi.

In near-identical tweets that reached viewers simultaneously on Sunday morning, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed US solidarity with the pandemic sweeping India and promised all possible assistance.

Sullivan said the Biden administration was working around the clock to deploy more supplies and support to our friends and partners in India as they bravely battle this pandemic. “More very soon,’’ he said.

Sources said at this moment the promised assistance included ventilators and other medical aids but not yet oxygen and raw materials for vaccine manufacturing in India although even the US Chamber has pointed out that there was no need for America to stockpile any more.

US sends aid to Indian government, health care workers to combat Covid-19 crisis

After the Indian media had taken the Biden Administration to task for holding on to stocks of vaccine and its raw materials, Blinken said his administration was working closely with the Indian government and promised to “rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India and India’s health care heroes’’

Public anger in India has mounted as the US has restricted the export of raw materials used for vaccine manufacturing in India. This may affect not just the pace of the domestic inoculation program but has led India to default on its export commitments.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has refused to acknowledge New Delhi’s compulsions while a more massive second wave has hit India. In comments earlier this week, she hinted that the EU might have to reorient its supply chains away from India if it defaulted on its export commitments.

Bangladesh, having waited for a second batch of Indian vaccines, is now tying up for the manufacturing of Sputnik vaccines to meet future requirements.

However, the US will come in useful in assisting India in providing critical care facilities as it has huge spare capacities since the pandemic wave that hit New York and other major American cities last year. The offers for help from Russia, Germany, France and the UK are also in the critical care segment and not in the manufacturing of vaccines. This makes America’s role crucial in ensuring that Indian manufacturing of vaccines is not affected.