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US senators urge Pfizer, J&J, Moderna to help India in Covid crisis

WION Web Team
Washington, United StatesUpdated: Apr 29, 2021, 03:58 PM IST
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A file photo of a medical worker inoculating a man with a dose of coronavirus vaccine at Moti Lal Nehru Medical College in Allahabad. Photograph:(AFP)

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Warren sent letters to Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson and urged them to share their plans of expanding access to coronavirus vaccines across the globe

As India gears up to launch its vaccine programme for 18-45-year-olds from May 01, a US Senator has urged the pharmaceutical companies to come forward and expand access to their vaccines in order to help India come out of the Covid crisis.

Elizabeth Warren, along with four other senators, took to Twitter to talk about the 'humanitarian crisis'.

"India's COVID outbreak is a humanitarian crisis. I’m leading a letter to @moderna_tx, @pfizer, and @jnjnews to find out what steps they’re taking to expand global access to their vaccines to save lives and prevent variants from spreading around the world," she tweeted.

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The senators involve Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.), and Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.).

Warren and her colleagues sent letters to pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson and urged them to share their plans of expanding access to coronavirus vaccines across the globe.

"COVID-19 has infected over 148 million people and killed over three million globally, with hundreds of thousands of new cases and thousands of deaths being reported daily," the senators wrote. "Though Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and other companies have developed safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, the uncontrolled spread of coronavirus poses significant risks to global vaccination efforts: as the virus proliferates, it evolves-increasing the risk of a variant developing that renders vaccinations ineffective."

Acknowledging that India is one of the biggest producers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the senators urged the pharma companies to share technology "such as vaccine recipes and manufacturing information, with partner companies to expedite production".

They have also urged the US to "support the temporary waiver of some Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) rules proposed by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization (WTO), which would temporarily lift certain intellectual property barriers and allow countries to locally manufacture COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines."