India welcomes lifting of U.S. curbs on export of vaccine ingredients

Vaccine gifts of 2-3 million doses may have little impact on India: officials

The government on Friday welcomed the U.S. decision to lift restrictions under its Defence Production Act on the export of vaccine ingredients to AstraZeneca vaccine manufacturers worldwide, which would help the Serum Institute of India produce more doses. However, Washington’s announcement of gifting India and dozens of other countries with a first tranche of 25 million doses of assorted American vaccines could run into regulatory delays, as issues of indemnity and authorisation have not been resolved at present. “Indian diplomacy is focussed on securing the vaccine supply chain,” said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who had raised the issue of easing U.S. exports of vaccine ingredients and components to India during his visit to Washington last week. On Thursday, the U.S. White House announced that it was relaxing export restrictions for U.S. companies to supply manufacturers of AstraZeneca, Novavax, and Sanofi vaccines.