Indian vaccine manufacturers also plan to produce more of the new crown vaccine developed by the United States and Russia, including Johnson&Johnson. The picture shows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi receiving a vaccination.
Two senior Indian officials said a four-nation alliance of the United States, Japan, Australia and India is stepping up its efforts to expand global vaccination coverage to counter China’s growing soft power. They added that India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, sees itself as best suited to serve as the anchor for countering China’s vaccine diplomacy.
Asked to comment, a U.S. State Department spokesman did not mention India’s funding request or mention China, but said Washington is deeply concerned about how to expand global vaccination, manufacturing and delivery.
The official told Reuters, “Secretary of State Blinken spoke with his Quad (Quad) counterpart on Feb. 18 to discuss cooperation on issues such as the New crown outbreak response and economic recovery, as well as climate change.”
The Australian government was not available for comment. But a government source said the global recovery from the new crown outbreak is a policy priority for the country and its Quad partners. Australia is exploring options to work with partners to enhance stability and prosperity in the region, the source said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a news conference March 5 that the four countries discussed “the need and importance of international cooperation to ensure equal access to vaccines for developing countries” at a meeting in February, but no decisions were made.
An Indian foreign ministry spokesman did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
One of the two Indian sources, an official with direct knowledge of the four-nation coalition’s discussions, said the group had held several meetings on global vaccination.
He also said, “India currently has more vaccine options than any other Asian country, and India wants members of the four-nation alliance to pay to ramp up production.”
A second source said that at the February online meeting, the Quad countries discussed how to “encourage alternative medical supply chains, which would mean less dependence on China.”
Guo Weimin, a spokesman for the fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said on March 3 that claims that China exports vaccines to expand its geopolitical influence “are very narrow-minded. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said China’s aim is to make vaccines available globally.
India is currently the only country that can counter China’s vaccine production rate, as shown here with 500,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca New Crown vaccine donated to Afghanistan, all produced by the Serum Institute of India.
India’s vaccine production capacity
Indian companies such as Serum Institute of India (SII), Barat Biotech, Biological E and Cadila Healthcare have the combined capacity to produce billions of doses of vaccines for themselves and others.
The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest single manufacturer, is producing Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccines for many countries and will soon begin mass production of the Novavax vaccine.
India is also trying to sell vaccines created by Bharat Biotech and the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (Indian Council of Medical Research) to 40 countries, including Brazil, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. Bharat Biotech says it can produce about 700 million doses of the vaccine each year.
A senior Indian vaccine official told Reuters in January that the government has also held discussions with U.S. companies Pfizer and Moderna about producing their vaccines in India.
One of the Indian sources said the partnership between the Serum Institute of India and U.S. biotech company Novavax holds “the key to a diplomatic alliance between the four countries in the field of vaccines, and to squeeze China out of regional vaccine sales.
He said, “The focus is also on ensuring that the four-nation alliance holds all the key markets for vaccines.”
The Indian company will also produce about 300 million doses of Russia’s Satellite V (Sputnik-V) vaccine, but the source said Washington is not keen to help expand Moscow’s influence on the vaccine.
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