Indian Americans in U.S. Congress, tech organize COVID-19 aid to India (updated)
27/04/2021 24:25
(Adds Chamber initiative)
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - Some U.S. lawmakers and
wealthy technology executives have joined forces to boost aid to
India as it grapples with a severe spike in coronavirus
infections, with a focus on ensuring aid is equally distributed
across the country, a Congress member said.
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, Democratic vice chair of the
Congressional Caucus on India, told Reuters that Indian-American
billionaire and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla and
other Indian-American tech executives at Google, IBM and
Microsoft are working closely with the bipartisan Congressional
Caucus on India.
The group is trying to match Indian hospitals and other
facilities with supplies of oxygen and other urgently needed
medical equipment, and pushing the White House to do more for
India, the world's largest democracy, as a surge in infections
overwhelms hospitals. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MJ080
On Twitter, Khosla offered to fund the bulk import of oxygen
and other supplies to India. Khanna said Khosla has offered to
underwrite the initiative.
Khosla declined a request for an interview.
Google said https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/supporting-india-during-current-covid-crisis
on Monday it was donating another $18 million in India for
victims and medical supplies, and confirmed chief executive
Sundar Pichai was personally donating $700,000 to UNICEF's India
response. IBM did not immediately return calls requesting
comment.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest U.S. business
lobby, and CEOs from 40 firms on Monday launched a separate task
force focused on providing India with critical medical supplies,
oxygen and other assistance. It includes a new portal https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/resources-india-covid-19-crisis
where U.S. firms can offer in-kind donations.
Indian immigrants and their offspring, some with deep
pockets, are a powerful political force in the United States,
and dozens of Indian Americans have roles in the Biden
administration. Demographers estimate there are close to 4
million people of Indian descent in the United States.
The United States has faced criticism in India where local
vaccine makers struggled to buy raw materials from U.S.
suppliers. Administration officials insist there is no export
ban in place, although the U.S. Defense Production Act allows
the government to give preference to U.S. manufacturers.
India on Monday ordered its armed forces to help tackle
infections as Britain, Germany and the United States pledged to
send in urgent medical aid. The World Health Organization chief
called the situation "beyond heartbreaking". urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MI0EW
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MJ080
The Indian-American caucus is meeting with the Indian
ambassador this week to see what else can be done to speed
distribution of unused AstraZeneca vaccines and other supplies
to India, Khanna said.
It has been pushing the White House to do more, Khanna said.
"The administration's initial response has been very
encouraging, but the hope is that they will continue by
releasing the AstraZeneca vaccines," Khanna said.
The White House on Monday said it would share up to 60
million doses of AstraZeneca Plc's AZN.L coronavirus vaccine
with other countries as soon as the next few weeks, but gave no
details on which countries would receive them, or when.
An AstraZeneca spokeswoman said these decisions are made by
the U.S. government. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MJ29X
One administration official said it was important to ensure
that U.S. assistance was broadly available to the Indian people,
but had no immediate comment on the initiative.
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of
Public Health, said there are questions about how evenly Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and his nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party may distribute aid.
Muslims have previously accused the Modi government and his
party of unfairly targeting them with lockdown measures early in
the COVID-19 crisis, when a cluster of virus cases emerged from
a New Delhi gathering of Muslim missionaries.
More recently, some opposition-ruled states have criticized
the working of the country’s mega vaccination drive and
complained of vaccine shortages.
India's government has decided to leave the import of
COVID-19 vaccines to state authorities and companies, two
government officials told Reuters this week. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MJ0MH
India's Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan in a statement on
Monday called for an end to politics around the vaccination
drive. Vardhan appealed to political parties to put the success
of the vaccination program above everything else, saying, "The
greatest need of the hour is a greater degree of shared
idealism."
Separately, Modi on Monday discussed the evolving
coronavirus situation with U.S. President Joe Biden, the White
House and Indian government said.
Khanna said he is pushing Biden, a fellow Democrat, to lean
on drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna to agree to a voluntary waiver
of IP rights for six months to a year, to help India boost its
domestic production of vaccines.
Administration officials say Moderna has already promised
not to enforce patents in India during the pandemic.
Pharmaceutical executives say they are working around the
clock to produce as much vaccine as possible, Jha said, and
trying to set up new vaccine facilities in India could divert
needed employees and resources.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
India's federal government won't import vaccines, leaving it to
states - sources urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MJ0MH
Situation in India 'beyond heartbreaking', WHO chief says
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MJ22S
India asks Twitter to take down some tweets critical of its
COVID-19 handling urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MI0FS
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington, Emma Farge and
Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Jane Lee in San Francisco;
Editing by Heather Timmons, Howard Goller and Sonya Hepinstall)
((andrea.shalal@tr.com; +1 202-815-7432;))