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Fremont, CA: According to a senior Biden administration official, the US is conversing with India on a regular basis through bilateral and multilateral channels to discuss the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and to inquire about the timeline for restarting vaccine exports.
The global pandemic will be a major topic on September 24, when US President Joe Biden hosts the first in-person summit of leaders from the "Quad" countries – Australia, India, Japan, and the US.
Prime Ministers Scott Morrison, Narendra Modi, and Yoshihide Suga will visit the United States in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which Biden will address on September 21.
The Quad leaders virtually met in March and agreed to collaborate closely on COVID-19 vaccines, but the initiative stalled after India, the world's largest vaccine producer, was hit by a catastrophic wave of infections, which forced the country to halt vaccine exports.
The administration official stated that Washington was in close contact with India and other Quad partners about the vaccine partnership, as well as "any factors that may affect this project or global vaccine supply," but that those discussions were unrelated to any specific summit or engagement.
The official noted that, due to the pandemic's urgency, Washington diverted its own supply of raw materials for vaccine production to India in April, and that global vaccine supply stayed a key bottleneck to ending the pandemic.
"We commend India for being one of the largest manufacturers for safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines globally, and we note that COVAX and the world rely heavily on India's contributions," the official stated. "It's important for the United States to engage all our allies and partners on these matters so we can take the necessary actions to end this pandemic together."
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