57 Congressmen urge Biden to bolster Covid help to India

Washington, May 13

Fifty-seven US Congressmen have written to President Joe Biden, urging him to bolster America's Covid assistance to India. “The sharp increase in cases has overwhelmed India's healthcare system. We must do our part to quell the virus everywhere it persists,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Biden on Wednesday.

“We are extremely concerned with regards to India's deadly Covid second wave. India is now the epicenter of the Covid pandemic. Today marked India's deadliest day, with 4,205 deaths reported, carrying the total number of confirmed deaths to more than 2,50,000,” said the letter initiated by Congressman Brad Sherman, the Democratic Chair of the Congressional India Caucus.

“India's latest surge of Covid infections is a humanitarian crisis that requires our assistance. As long as Covid persists in India, there is the potential for additional variants that could pose a serious threat to a vaccinated America,” Sherman said.

In the letter, the Congressmen relayed to the administration that India remains in need of additional medical equipment, supplies and other vital resources to emerge from this crisis.

They requested the administration to provide oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, oxygen generator plants, cryogenic oxygen tanker/container, Remdesivir, Tocilizumab and ventilators/BiPAP to India.

“To the extent it is possible, we hope that you will work to provide India with vaccines,” they said.

“With this in mind, we welcome recently announced plans to make available sources of raw materials to help India manufacture more vaccines,” the Congressmen wrote. — PTI

Mixing vaccine doses increases side-effects: Study

London: Mixing the doses of different types of two-dose Covid vaccines has been found to be safe but increased the frequency of mild to moderate symptoms, a new UK study led by the University of Oxford has found. Researchers have been investigating the immune responses of volunteers given a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine followed by the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, and vice versa, since February. PTI

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.