Washington: Lamenting that the US has allocated only 7.5 million doses of Covid vaccines to India, a top Indian-American Congressman has urged the Biden administration to do more by expanding its global vaccine aid programme to it at a time when the world faces the threat of new, vaccine-resistant coronavirus variants.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi’s statement came on a day when the White House said it is “eager” to continue the partnership with India in the fight against coronavirus and wants to provide assistance, including vaccines.

Krishnamoorthi has secured the support of 116 members of Congress on his ongoing effort to expand the US global vaccine aid programmes to India and other nations.

“The US has so far allocated only 7.5 million vaccine doses for India,” he said.

“I’m once again urging President Biden and my colleagues in the Congress to come together and pass the NOVID (Nullifying Opportunities for Variants to Infect and Decimate) Act into law to end this pandemic for good because, so long as outbreaks continue in any nation, the entire world faces the threat of new, vaccine-resistant variants,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement.

“As we approach Indian Independence Day, we need to declare our independence from Covid by creating the global partnership necessary to produce and deliver the billions of vaccines necessary to truly bring this pandemic to an end,” the Democratic Party lawmaker said.

“Meeting those goals will demand the continued cooperation of the world’s leading democracies and producers of these life-saving vaccines, including the United States and India,” Krishnamoorthi added.

Under the NOVID Act, which Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Senators Jeff Merkley and Elizabeth Warren introduced with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the US will establish the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Programme (PanPReP) to oversee the global health response to the pandemic.

PTI

Press Trust of India