New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening spoke to US Vice President Kamala Harris and both the leaders discussed vaccine supplies.
Vice President Harris informed Prime Minister about US plans to make vaccines against COVID-19 available to other countries, including India, under its “Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing”, an official source said.
The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation to Vice President Harris for the US decision.
“I deeply appreciate the assurance of vaccine supplies to India as part of the US Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing. I also thanked her for the all the support and solidarity from the US government, businesses and Indian diaspora,” the Prime Minister tweeted.
Both the leaders also discussed ongoing efforts to further strengthen India-US vaccine cooperation, and the potential “of our partnership to contribute to post-Covid global health and economic recovery”.
Mr Modi also thanked the US for all other forms of support and solidarity that India has received in recent days from the US Government, businesses and the Indian expatriate community in the US.
The leaders discussed ongoing efforts to strengthen the health supply chain between the US and India, including in the area of vaccine manufacturing. They highlighted the potential of the India-US partnership as well as the Quad vaccine initiative in addressing the long-term health impact of the pandemic.
Prime Minister expressed the hope to welcome Vice President Harris in India soon after the normalisation of the global health situation, the official source said.
Kamala Harris is the daughter of cancer biologist Shyamala Gopalan, who had migrated from the southern Indian city of Chennai. Her father is a Jamaican migrant.
In her maternal grandfather’s hometown of Thulasendrapuram in Tamil Nadu, about 350 kilometers from Chennai, people had overwhelmingly rejoiced Kamala taking charge as the US Vice President earlier this year.
