U.S. ships over 110 million COVID-19 vaccine doses abroad; India does not take any due to liability issues

An Indian official involved in the vaccine negotiations told The Hindu that several ‘challenges remain’ in terms of resolving the larger issue of commercial orders for the three U.S. vaccine manufacturers.

The U.S. has shipped more than 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to middle and low income countries, U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday. This exceeds a commitment to donate at least 80 million doses of mostly AstraZeneca vaccine globally. India did not appear on an official list of countries that had received U.S. vaccines, a consequence of unresolved liability issues between the government of India and vaccine manufacturers. An Indian official involved in the vaccine negotiations told The Hindu that while U.S. donated vaccines could be accepted with an implicit indemnity cover from the government, several “challenges remain” in terms of resolving the larger issue of commercial orders for the three U.S. vaccine manufacturers (Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson), and those are now holding up all COVID-19 vaccine imports from the U.S. In an interview to NDTV, the government’s vaccine panel chief, N.K. Arora, suggested that India could reconsider its position on if a larger number of doses, between “100 to 200 million doses” were offered, but that India is going ahead with its vaccine plans to inoculate all eligible adults with COVID-19 vaccines without factoring in vaccines imported from the U.S.