By Sabrina Siddiqui and Jessica Donati
WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration is making plans to share
millions of doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and preparing
a major effort to help India fight a resurgence of the virus, as
calls mount for the U.S. to do more to assist developing countries
in confronting the pandemic.
The White House said Monday it would share as many as 60 million
doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with the rest of the world. U.S.
officials also said they were exploring options to urgently
dispatch oxygen and related supplies to India.
President Biden spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as India
reported 352,991 new coronavirus cases on Monday, marking the fifth
consecutive day the country set a global record for a single-day
rise in infections.
The Biden administration has faced growing pressure to share
vaccine doses with India and other developing countries that have
been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and are far behind
wealthier countries in procuring and administering vaccine
doses.
India's hospitals have been overwhelmed, with beds and oxygen in
short supply and crematoriums running out of space as the country
recorded a million new cases in just three days. Reports and images
of people dying on the pavement waiting for treatment have
underscored the severity of the surge.
Mr. Biden and several other top officials in his administration
didn't issue public statements on the crisis until the weekend,
drawing a backlash. On Sunday, the White House said it would send
therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and
protective gear to help India. On Monday, officials said they would
also send the antiviral treatment remdesivir and deploy a team of
U.S. public-health experts to India.
The administration stopped short of agreeing to donate vaccine
supply, saying it would instead make available sources of raw
materials to help India manufacture more vaccines.
The White House said as many as 16 million AstraZeneca doses
could be made available to other countries in the next two months
but didn't identify recipients or say whether India would be among
them.
The AstraZeneca vaccine hasn't been authorized for use in the
U.S. The White House said doses could still be exported to other
countries once the Food and Drug Administration deems the vaccine
has met certain "product quality" expectations as part of a
continuing review by regulators of the plant where the vaccine is
being manufactured in the U.S.
AstraZeneca declined to comment on whether it was consulted on
the decision. "The doses are part of AstraZeneca's supply
commitments to the U.S. government," a spokeswoman for AstraZeneca
said in an email. "Decisions to send U.S. supply to other countries
are made by the U.S. government."
A senior Indian official said New Delhi hadn't specifically
requested the supply of unused AstraZeneca doses, but would gladly
accept a portion of them if offered.
"What took us by surprise was the slow response by the U.S. It
created some misgivings in the public opinion, and that sometimes
creates complications," the official said, adding: "I don't think
it was a deliberate slight, a well-thought out plan to snub India.
Someone just dropped the ball."
State Department spokesman Ned Price countered suggestions that
the U.S. was slow to respond, but acknowledged more assistance was
warranted. "We recognize that as the current outbreak has taken an
incredibly concerning turn in India, that there was more we could
do," Mr. Price said to reporters on Monday.
Nonetheless, critics said the delayed U.S. response should serve
as a reminder that New Delhi couldn't become overly dependent on
Washington.
India and the U.S. also remain at odds about New Delhi's push to
waive pharmaceutical companies' intellectual-property rights over
lifesaving vaccines.
The Biden administration has made improving ties with India one
of its top foreign-policy goals, viewing New Delhi as an important
potential ally against China in the Indo-Pacific region. Last
month, Mr. Biden virtually met with leaders of India, Japan and
Australia to discuss producing more vaccines for the region, a move
intended to signal U.S. priorities.
The surge in India, which began in March, brought the country's
total infections to more than 17 million since the start of the
pandemic. The nation's death toll topped 195,000 on Monday, but
public-health experts say the figures are likely higher.
"Remembering an old lesson...Not to become overdependent on the
U.S. for defense weapons and equipment," said Ved Prakash Malik, a
former chief of the Indian army, on Twitter.
The Biden administration's response to the crisis has been
hindered in part by vacancies in top jobs at the State Department
involving U.S. relations with India. The top job at the Bureau of
South and Central Asian Affairs at the State Department remains
vacant, although Mr. Biden named a nominee on Friday. The role of
top U.S. envoy to India also remains vacant.
"If you had a new ambassador out there with the gravitas that
previous ambassadors had, he or she would be on the phone
constantly with the White House... It forces things upward to the
attention of senior decision makers," said Peter Lavoy, who served
as South Asia senior director for the Obama administration.
Dr. Lavoy said both governments might have been slow to
understand the unfolding crisis, but "the system is working and the
U.S. response is ramping up."
Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think
tank, said the delayed response was a setback but the flurry of
public messaging from U.S. officials about providing more aid would
offer reassurance.
"The U.S.-India relationship will weather the storm. It's
amassed considerable goodwill and trust over the last few decades,
and it's solidified by strong convergent interests -- chief among
them counterbalancing China," Mr. Kugelman said to The Wall Street
Journal.
But Russia and even China have capitalized on the slow response
from Washington with offers of support, while also bolstering
propaganda efforts online.
"China is ready to provide necessary support and help to India
in its fight against the new wave of infections. If India raises
any specific demand, we will offer support and help to the best of
our capability," foreign-policy spokesman Wang Wenbin said
Monday.
Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in
Washington, said that Chinese bots, trolls and even journalists
have been stoking anti-U.S. sentiment online, criticizing the
government's close relationship with Washington.
"They've been having a field day with this, fueling this idea
among the Indian public that the U.S. is not reliable," she told
the Journal.
India's epidemic also brought renewed focus on the disparity in
vaccine access between developing countries and wealthier
nations.
The new wave of infections in India, which began in March, came
after a loosening of restrictions and brought fresh criticism
toward Mr. Modi and his government for participating in large
political rallies and encouraging mass religious gatherings even as
cases were on the rise.
Mr. Modi's government has also come under scrutiny for ordering
Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and Instagram to block about 100
social-media posts criticizing its handling of the surge, prompting
public anger and allegations of censorship.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that efforts
by the Indian government to block social-media criticism "certainly
wouldn't be aligned with our view of freedom of speech around the
world."
Joseph Walker, Yaroslav Trofimov and William Mauldin contributed
to this article.
Write to Sabrina Siddiqui at Sabrina.Siddiqui@wsj.com and
Jessica Donati at jessica.donati@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 26, 2021 19:18 ET (23:18 GMT)
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