Top US official to visit India to boost vaccine production

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 16

The head of US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), David Marchick, will travel to South Africa and India to promote vaccine production in these countries.

To reach on October 24

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• Both India and South Africa insisted on the suspension of patents on Covid vaccines to enable developing countries to manufacture them at a low cost
• After initial enthusiasm for the proposal, Washington seems to have aligned with Western European nations in alternate proposals that allow their pharma companies to remain as the major suppliers
• Arriving in India on October 24, US International Development Finance Corporation chief David Marchick and his team will visit the offices of Biological E to participate in a signing ceremony for a new facility

The proposals with respect to India under the “Quad” initiative are at an advanced stage, while Marchick will take stock of the manufacturing capacities in South Africa.

Incidentally, both India and South Africa have insisted on the suspension of patents on Covid vaccines to enable developing countries to manufacture them at a low cost. After initial enthusiasm for the proposal, Washington seems to have aligned with Western European in alternate proposals that allow their pharma companies to remain as the major suppliers.

Arriving in India on October 24, Marchick and his team will visit the offices of Biological E to participate in a signing ceremony for a new facility. This is in keeping with the decision at the first in-person Quad summit on September 24 in Washington that Biological E will produce 10 lakh doses of Janssen vaccine and India will finance 50 per cent of the first consignment.

In South Africa, the delegation will visit the facilities of Aspen Pharmacare, Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer as well as meet with other pharmaceutical manufacturers critical to the Covid response.

The DFC will facilitate capacity expansion to produce nearly 200 crore vaccine doses across the globe by the end of 2022, with more projects in the pipeline. The agency is also working on expanding access to critical therapeutics and introducing medical equipment designed for low-resource environments under DFC’s Global Health and Prosperity Initiative.