The US expects India to bounce back as an exporter of vaccines and play a key role in the fight against the devastating pandemic just as it did during the first wave of Covid-19. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to India next week will, apart from the China and Afghanistan issues, explore ways to take forward the Indo-Pacific agreement on vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The Indo-Pacific Quad alliance had at a summit in March convened by US President Joe Biden drawn up a clear action plan to accelerate the production of Covid-19 vaccines with India as the world’s vaccine manufacturing hub and the US and Japan providing the financial backing. Australia will be pitching in as well to tackle the acute shortage of vaccines in the region. 

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The vaccine alliance assumes even greater importance since China-made vaccines have failed in the region as they are not working against Covid-19. The disease is surging in these countries even among those who have been vaccinated. Countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines which initially imported stocks of China-made vaccines are switching to western vaccines such as AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer. 

China which had launched an aggressive vaccine diplomacy in the region is now facing a backlash.

Indo-Pacific plan

The Indo-Pacific Quad has become even more relevant to help these countries emerge from the catastrophic coronavirus crisis.

The Quad countries have agreed to set up a Quad Vaccine Experts Group, comprising top scientists and government officials of the four countries to implement the decisions.

The agreement at the Quad summit states that the United States Development Finance Corporation, will fund India’s Biological E Ltd to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022 which would include the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

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Similarly, progress has also been made on the Novavax vaccine which is now being manufactured at the Serum Institute of India in Pune.  US-based Novavax Inc has a vaccine manufacturing agreement with Serum Institute of India, which also manufactures the Covishield vaccine currently administered in the country.

Serum Institute of India (SII) has started the production of the first batch of Novavax (known as Covovax in India) Covid vaccine. SII CEO Adar Poonawalla has said the Novavax vaccine has "great potential to protect our future generations below the age of 18. Trials are ongoing." 

India has rolled out its vaccination campaign against the pandemic with two vaccines, AstraZeneca's Covishield being manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Russia’s Sputnik V is the third vaccine that is now being used in the country for the inoculation drive that has been accelerated to cover the entire adult population in the country.

The other India-made vaccines that are expected to be rolled out for use in the coming days are Cadila Healthcare’s ZyCov-D.

India, which had emerged as the vaccine maker for the world, was subsequently hit by a catastrophic wave of infections and halted vaccine exports. The US is aware of this fact and understands that the country needs to meet a much higher domestic demand for vaccines as it aims to vaccinate its entire adult population. 

"India is such a critical country in the fight against COVID-19," Blinken told MSNBC on Friday, adding that it would eventually become a vital source of vaccines to the world.

"They’re focused understandably on their own internal challenges now, but when that production engine gets fully going and can distribute again to the rest of the world, that’s going to make a big difference," Blinken added.

Blinken is also likely to discuss plans for an in-person summit of the Indo-Pacific Quad alliance comprising India, Japan, Australia and the United States as a counter to China's rising influence.

This grouping is now growing into a Quad Plus initiative with the countries like Vietnam also keen to come on board amid a growing threat from China.