Terms of Indemnity for Foreign Makers Hold Up Covid Vaccine Donations from US as Neighbours Get Share

The Covid-19 vaccine donations to India are still held up as Indian officials discuss terms of indemnity for foreign vaccine makers, sources have told CNBC TV18.

Earlier this week, the United States asserted that there has been no delay from its side in sending consignment of US-made Covid-19 vaccines to India, adding New Delhi has determined that it needs further time to review legal provisions related to accepting vaccine donations.

“As President Biden announced earlier this year, the United States will share 80 million doses from our own vaccine supply with countries around the world. As part of that, before we can ship doses, each country must complete its own domestic set of operational, regulatory, and legal processes that are specific to each country,” a US embassy spokesperson told exclusively to CNBC-TV18.

“In case of India: the delay is not from the US side. India has determined that it needs further time to review legal provisions related to accepting vaccine donations. Once India works through its legal process, our donation of vaccines to India will proceed expeditiously,” the spokesperson explained.

It is to be noted here that countries such as Bangladesh, Taiwan and Pakistan have already received consignments of US Covid-19 vaccines, but India is yet to get them.

The 80 million doses which the US is donating comprise vaccines manufactured by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson.

On June 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoke to the US Vice President Kamala Harris and expressed his appreciation for assurance of vaccine supplies to India as part of the US Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing.

During the call, Harris had stressed the Joe Biden administration’s efforts to ‘achieve broad global coverage, responding to surges and other urgent situations ad public health needs and helping as many countries as possible who requested vaccines’, Senior White House Advisor and Chief Spokesperson Symone Sanders had said.

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