Exclusive | Securing vaccines, deal to remove COVID copyrights to top Jaishankar’s talks in US

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar (Representative image)

Vaccine distribution, be it in the form of bilateral assistance or through a global deal to temporarily remove intellectual property rights waivers for pharma companies, will top the agenda as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar holds discussions in Washington DC with his American counterpart Secretary of State Antony Blinken later this week.

As of mid-May, the US had more than 27 million unused Moderna vaccine doses and 35 million doses from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This so-called stockpile is expected to continue to grow in the immediate future as the pace of vaccination in the US falls with large percentage of critical age groups having already been inoculated," a senior official said.

While the US had, last month, said it will donate up to 80 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab, it has not clarified which countries will make the cut and how much will be allocated to each. On the other hand, the deadline has been made murky by the fact that the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) is yet to officially approve the use of the AstraZeneca doses.

The Biden Administration has clarified that it can't send vaccines abroad until its own domestic regulators approve the vaccine for human use.

However, sources say there is more to the story. “Even apart from the AstraZeneca jabs, the US has confirmed it will globally distribute up to 20 million doses manufactured by other companies that is already authorised for use in the US. The talks will also touch whether a portion of that can come to India," another official said.

Daily COVID-19 cases in India are currently falling and have remained below the 3-lakh- mark for the past seven straight days. This follows one of the largest outbreaks in the world with daily cases remaining above the 3-lakh mark for 25 straight days.

Jaishankar will also discuss India's proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the proposed global intellectual property rights waiver for vaccines.

Moneycontrol had reported last week that India is set to submit an updated version of the proposal to the WTO's powerful Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council by May 30.

While the US came out in support of the move last month, talks remain at a critical stage as developed countries draw the line at liberalising vaccine technology, and not the tech for key drugs and medical equipment, sources say.

The next few days will also see talks on the scope of bilateral assistance in the form of critical medical equipment that is being provided to India by the US.

According to the US Department of State, as of May 11, bilateral assistance from the US to India for combating COVID-19 totalled $100 million. This include six major airlifts to India over the course of as many days.

“Among the supplies included in those airlifts are 20,000 courses of remdesivir, nearly 1,500 oxygen cylinders, 550 mobile oxygen concentrators, 1 million rapid diagnostic tests, nearly 2.5 million N-95 masks, a large-scale deployable oxygen concentration system and pulse oximeters," the US State Department has said.

In addition, USAID has allocated immediate funding to purchase an additional 1,000 mobile oxygen concentrators.

The minister is also set to meet the US Chamber of Commerce and other economic groups for further talks on a potential free trade agreement (FTA).

He will also be meeting cabinet members and senior officials of the presidential administration dealing with the bilateral relationship. Jaishankar is scheduled to have two interactions with business forums on economic and COVID-related cooperation between India and the US.

Both sides will also review preparatory work on the fourth India-US 2+2 dialogue, set to be held in the US, sources said. The dialogue is the highest-level institutional mechanism between the two countries, primarily focussed on defence and foreign policy tracks.

As is usually the case during a US visit, the External Affairs Minister is also set to meet United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York.