By Rupam Jain and David Brunnstrom
NEW DELHI / WASHINGTON (Reuters) – India has asked the United States, Japan and Australia to invest in its vaccine production capacity, an Indian government source told Reuters as the so-called Quad alliance tries to contain the country’s growing vaccine diplomacy. China.
Beijing has pledged to supply at least 463 million doses of its home-made COVID-19 vaccines through exports and donations worldwide, from Asia to Africa, Europe and Latin America, according to Reuters calculations.
Two senior Indian officials said the Quad alliance, bringing together the United States, Japan, Australia and India, is stepping up efforts to expand global vaccination to contain China’s growing soft power. India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, believes it is in a better position to lead the effort, they added.
Asked about the matter, a US State Department spokesman did not refer to the request for funds from India or China, but said that Washington is deeply focused on expanding global vaccination, manufacturing and distribution.
“Secretary (Antony) Blinken spoke with his Quad counterparts on February 18 to discuss cooperation in the response and recovery of COVID-19 and climate change, among other issues,” the official told Reuters.
There were no comments from the Australian government. But a government source said the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic was a political priority for the country and its Quad partners. Australia is exploring a number of options for working with partners to increase stability and prosperity in the region, the source said.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a news conference on Friday that the four countries discussed the “need and importance of international cooperation to ensure equal access to vaccines for developing countries” at the February meeting , but nothing has been decided.
A spokesman for the Indian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
One of the two Indian sources, an official who has direct knowledge of the Quad alliance’s discussions, said the group had several meetings on global vaccination.
“India has more vaccine options than any other Asian country at this time,” said the source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the subject. “India expects members of the Quad alliance to pay to increase production.
A second Indian source said that at the February virtual meeting, Quad countries discussed ways to “encourage alternative medical supply chains, implying less dependence on China”.
A leading political advisory body in Beijing, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said concerns that China was using vaccines to influence other countries were “extremely narrow-minded”.
China’s goal was to make vaccines available worldwide, the Foreign Ministry said.
BILLION DOSES
Indian companies like the Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech, Biological E and Cadila Healthcare have the combined ability to produce billions of doses of their own vaccines or to manufacture under contract for third parties.
SII, the largest manufacturer in the world, is producing the vaccine from the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca for many countries and will soon begin making injections of Novavax in bulk.
India is also trying to sell a vaccine created by Bharat Biotech and the Indian state medical research council to 40 countries, including Brazil, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. Bharat Biotech says it can produce around 700 million doses of the injection per year.
Indian vaccine manufacturers are also planning to produce more COVID-19 vaccines developed by the United States and Russia, including Johnson & Johnson.
A senior Indian vaccine official told Reuters in January that the government also held discussions with American companies Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc about making their vaccines in India.
Serum’s partnership with Novavax is “the key to Quad’s diplomatic alliance in vaccines and takes China away from regional vaccine sales,” said one of the Indian sources.
“The focus is also on ensuring that the Quad alliance ensures all major vaccine markets,” he said.
Indian companies will also produce about 300 million doses of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine, but the source said Washington is not interested in helping to expand Moscow’s influence on vaccines.
(Reporting by Rupam Jain, David Brunnstrom, Neha Dasgupta, Kirsty Needham, Krishna N. Das, Sanjeev Miglani and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Raju Gopalakrishnan)