Dr Fauci offers New Delhi R&D help to fight Covid

Washington, May 5

Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India’s Ambassador to the US, held a virtual meeting with America’s top public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci and discussed the current Covid crisis in India, the efficacy of vaccines against the new strains and variants of the virus.

Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health, offered American assistance, including in research and development.

Biden: Helping India significantly

• The US is helping India significantly in its fight against the second wave of Covid by sending it material and machine parts, President Joe Biden has said.
• Congresswoman Deborah Ross also wrote to Biden urging him to accelerate assistance to India.

The meeting was part of the Ambassador’s intensified and focused outreach to key stakeholders of healthcare and pandemic response in the US. This is the first time that a top Indian official met with Fauci, who is the top advisor to President Joe Biden on the pandemic.

During the meeting, Fauci expressed his solidarity and support with India in this hour of crisis. The meeting came a day after he termed the situation in India “very desperate” and suggested that the government marshal all its resources, including the armed forces, to immediately build makeshift field hospitals, and urged other countries to help with not only materials but also personnel.

“Discussed virus variants, vaccines and joint efforts incl in R&D,” Sandhu tweeted. — PTI