'Move Not To Gain Favours': US To Distribute 80 Mn Covid Vaccines To Countries Including India

India will be a “major recipient” of Biden’s 25 million COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan as announced by US National Security Advisor.

US President Joe Biden (File Photo)

Washington DC: US National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan stated shortly after Washington announced its intent to provide the world with 25 million COVID-19 vaccines that the US will not use the move to gain favours from other nations.

“We are announcing our plan for sharing the first 25 million US vaccines with the world. I’m going to briefly outline why we are sharing them, how we plan to share them, and where we will share them… the United States will not use its vaccines to secure favours from other countries,”Sullivan added, according to the news agency ANI.

The Joe Biden administration said on Thursday that it will share vaccines with Latin America and the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa, as well as plans to prioritise vaccine supply to India, Nepal, the Philippines, and other nations experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19.

“Our overarching aim is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible. It’s as simple as that. We want to save lives and thwart variants that place all of us at risk. But perhaps most important: This is just the right thing to do,” he added.

The United States has already stated its intention to distribute 80 million COVID-19 vaccines worldwide by the end of June. The proposal comes at a time when China and Russia, which are seen as US enemies, have already offered vaccines to friendly countries.

While India, too, supplied COVID-19 vaccinations to over a hundred countries, opposition parties slammed the act, questioning why the doses were transferred outside the country when India’s own population’s vaccination needs were not being fulfilled.