Joe Biden's spokesperson Jen Psaki has revealed that the United States is ''working closely'' with Indian officials to find ways to help the country that is currently facing the deadly second wave of coronavirus. The comments from Psaki come at a time when India witnessed more than 3,46,000 Covid positive cases and 2,624 deaths.
US maintains silence on Covid vaccine raw material export
Even though the United States extended its cooperation to India, the country maintained silence on lifting the embargo on exporting vaccine raw materials, which India has requested, or share the unused stockpile of AstraZeneca vaccines.
"We are working closely with Indian officials at both political and experts' level to identify ways to help address the crisis. From the earliest stages of the pandemic, we've provided India with emergency relief supplies, medical consumables, pandemic training for Indian state and local health officials, and ventilators," said Psaki.
Jalina Porter, principal deputy spokesperson did not answer the question regarding the ban on vaccine raw material export.
"We have continued to work closely with India to facilitate the movement of essential supplies and also address the bottlenecks of their supply chains. But we'll also continue to collaborate with our partners in India to battle this at the highest level. We remain deeply engaged with India at all levels as we work to combat this crisis of the pandemic together," said Porter.
Is the US making false claims?
Psaki claimed that the United States has given $1.4 billion to India for the Covid-19 relief effort. However, according to USAID, the $1.4 billion cited by Psaki was the total US aid for health programs in India over a 20-year period.
USAID, the agency that channels international assistance revealed that the United States has only given $5.9 million to India for dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was last year by former President Donald Trump.
In the meantime, the second wave of coronavirus has turned deadly in India, and the country's entire healthcare system is on the verge of collapse. Medical experts believe that the double and triple mutant strains of Covid are primarily responsible for the surge in positive cases in India.
