US pledges help for coronavirus-stricken India
As the COVID-19 situation in India continues to grow more dire, countries around the world are pledging help — including the United States, which has promised to send raw materials required to make coronavirus vaccines and other supplies.
The U.S. also has announced plans to share 60 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine with other countries once they are available.
India ranks second in the world behind the U.S. in number of COVID-19 cases with more than 17.3 million, and third in deaths from the disease behind the U.S. and Brazil with more than 195,000. The most recent vaccination reports indicate that as of April 20, more than 130 million vaccine doses have been administered in India — the third most in a single country behind only the U.S. and China.
However, as of Saturday, India had experienced 4 days of record-setting case counts and reported its highest daily death toll for the 9th consecutive day, adding 2,767 fatalities in 24 hours, according to CNN.
“A lot of health estimates right now say that cases and fatalities are being underreported and so they're much higher than what we know and they're going to get much worse,” Krutika Kuppalli, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the Medical University of South Carolina and vice chair of the Infectious Diseases Society of America Global Health Committee, told Healio. “We need to keep that in mind and continue to monitor the situation closely.”
As cases and death counts continue to rise, India is facing a shortage of ICU beds, oxygen, ventilators and medicine, and authorities have been holding mass cremations at makeshift sites, according to CNN.
In addition to pledging raw materials to make the AstraZeneca vaccine, the U.S. also will send therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment to India, a National Security Council spokesperson said.
“Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need,” President Joe Biden tweeted.
“Clearly the COVID-19 epidemic in India is exploding, and India is rapidly being overwhelmed by the number of patients,” Carlos del Rio, MD, Infectious Disease News Editorial Board Member and executive associate dean at the Emory University School of Medicine, told Healio. “The U.S. needs to retake its leadership role in global health and start by lifting a ban on the export of raw materials for vaccine manufacturing.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed during a press briefing on Monday that the U.S. will be releasing 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to other countries. According to reports by Bloomberg, the U.S. already has more than 20 million doses stockpiled despite the vaccine not being approved for use in the U.S.
“We do not need to use AstraZeneca in our fight against COVID-19 over the next few months,” Psaki said, noting that the U.S. has doses of three other vaccines available for use.
In addition to supplies and vaccines, Kuppalli said that intellectual property patents should be shared as well, adding that this would allow for a rapid scale up of vaccine production globally and improve the global situation in the long term.
“Looking down that line at the India situation, we need to not just think in the immediate term but also in the long term,” Kuppalli said. “India is one of the largest producers of generic meds and antiretroviral therapy and so what this large surge will do for the global economy is going to be very concerning.”
“We really need to make sure, collectively, as a world, that we're safe,” Kuppalli added, “because what happens in one part of the world really affects the rest of the world.”
References:
Suri M. India sets Covid-19 infection record for fourth straight day with hospitals desperate for oxygen. April 25, 2021. Accessed April 26, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/25/asia/indiacovidfourth-day-record-infections-intl-hnk/index.html.
Press Briefing.
WHO. COVID-19: India. https://covid19.who.int/region/searo/country/in. Accessed on April 26, 2021.
Collapse
Healio Interview.
Read more about