Easing vaccine supply chain tops Jaishankar’s agenda during US visit

Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar has arrived in the US on a five-day visit that is expected to have the securing of ingredients for vaccine manufacturing in India high on the agenda.

Jaishankar who arrived in the US on Sunday will spend two of his five-day trip (24-28 May) in New York before heading for Washington.

On the first leg of his visit in New York on Monday, Jaishankar will meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. This will be the first face-to-face conversation between the two since India assumed its two-year, non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council on 1 January this year.

In Washington, Jaishankar will hold discussions with his counterpart Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The second in-person meeting between the two within a month comes at a time when India is battling a fierce second wave of covid-19 infections, with the shortage of vaccines aggravating the situation. Blinken and Jaishankar had met earlier this month in London on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in which India took part as a guest.

New Delhi is engaged with pharmaceutical companies in the US as well as the US administration on the procurement and production of vaccines at home. But the minister is likely to press New Delhi’s case during his in-person meeting with Blinken and others in the US administration.

According to officials familiar with the matter, vaccines made in India require some 360 different ingredients sourced from as many as 10 different countries. But the largest number of ingredients–more than 200–are sourced from the US. The smooth flow of these and other ingredients are therefore crucial for Indian companies looking to scale up production to meet domestic targets and to meet international commitments at a later date. India’s two-pronged strategy to beat the current second wave of covid-19 rests on ramping up inoculations across age groups as well as implementing targeted lockdowns.

The Jaishankar-Blinken talks could also cover plans for Johnson and Johnson to manufacture its vaccine in India as per an understanding reached during the first Quad Leaders’ summit in March. India was to manufacture 1 billion doses, to be funded by Japan and the US, for distribution in Southeast Asia using Australian logistics.

During his stay in Washington, Jaishankar is to interact with representatives of US businesses which have led an initiative, supported by the Biden administration, to send assistance to India to combat the second covid-19 wave in India. There is also speculation that Jaishankar could meet representatives of Pfizer which is in talks with the Indian government to supply its vaccine. According to a Reuters report, talks were stuck over a demand by the US drugmaker for legal protection from any adverse reactions from its vaccine.

Jaishankar’s meetings in Washington come against the backdrop of US President Joe Biden saying last week that the country will begin shipping 20 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson’s covid-vaccines to needy countries by June-end. This will be in addition to 60 million shots of AstraZeneca vaccines that the US aims to ship out. It is as yet unclear who the recipients are and how many doses they would each get.

Indian companies focusing on domestic requirements in response to the government’s call to vaccinate 300-400 million people as quickly as possible means that New Delhi will not be able to accommodate demands of India’s neighbours for vaccines. Strategic rival China has now stepped in, offering its vaccines, in some cases free of cost, to India’s neighbours. Live Mint