When the whole world was facing the wrath of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was PM Narendra Modi’s diplomacy that led the US to stop India from invoking its Defense Production Act (DPA) on raw materials for Indian vaccine makers, a federation. Exempted. The Foreign Minister gave this information on 1 October.
“During covid, PM Modi asked the US President not to shut down the vaccine supply chain for India and the world and as a result, the US administration exempted India from the Defense Production Act and due to that our vaccination program goes smoothly. Let’s go,” MEA S Jaishankar said at an event in Gujarat’s Vadodara.
He said the exemption was a significant development for India, which had hoped to ramp up production of the vaccine to vaccinate the Indian population during the Covid-19 outbreak.
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In February 2021, the US lifted a ban imposed under its Defense Production Act that required India to use resources to produce supplements for its population.
Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla credited US President Joe Biden and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for the ‘policy change’ after restrictions on raw materials needed to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine were lifted. This will increase the supply of raw materials globally.
“As a US vaccine manufacturer, we remain confident in the supply of our authorized vaccines. As a result, we are removing the DPA priority ratings for AstraZeneca, Novavax and Sanofi,” the White House said in a statement.
Further, in a slightly oblique reference to Pakistan, Jaishankar said, “Our neighbor is an expert in international terrorism and has warned that if terrorism is being done against us, tomorrow it will be done against you.”
“We have a neighbor like we specialize in IT (information technology), they specialize in ‘international terrorists’. This has been going on for years… but we can convince the world that terrorism is terrorism, today it is our Jaishankar said, tomorrow it will be against you.
Jaishankar also pointed out that the world’s understanding of terrorism has improved over the past and it is no longer tolerated. “Countries that use terrorism are under pressure and are reluctant to go further,” he said.
With inputs from ANI.
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