57 US Congressmen urge Biden to bolster COVID-19 assistance to India

PTI, May 13, 2021, 9:04 AM IST

Washington DC: Fifty-seven US Congressmen have written to President Joe Biden, urging him to bolster America’s COVID-19 assistance to India.

“The sharp increase in cases has overwhelmed India’s healthcare system. We must do our part to quell the virus everywhere it persists,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Biden on Wednesday.

“We are extremely concerned with regards to India’s deadly COVID-19 second wave. India is now the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today marked India’s deadliest day, with 4,205 deaths reported, carrying the total number of confirmed deaths to more than 250,000,” said the letter initiated by Congressman Brad Sherman, the Democratic Chair of the Congressional India Caucus.

“India’s latest surge of COVID-19 infections is a humanitarian crisis that requires our assistance. As long as COVID persists in India, there is the potential for additional variants that could pose a serious threat to a vaccinated America,” Sherman said.

In the letter, the Congressmen relayed to the administration that India remains in need of additional medical equipment, supplies and other vital resources to emerge from this crisis.

They requested the administration to provide oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, oxygen generator plants, cryogenic oxygen tanker/container, Remdesivir, Tocilizumab and ventilators/BiPAP to India.

It is also in the US interest that everyone in India be vaccinated, the Congressmen wrote. ”To the extent it is possible, we hope that you will work to provide India with vaccines,” they said.

“With this in mind, we welcome recently announced plans to make available sources of raw materials to help India manufacture more vaccines. Further, we ask that you share with India surplus doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as soon as possible,” the Congressmen wrote.