(Adds details of Quad agreement last month, current crisis in
India)
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - An agreement between the
United States and three of its closest Indo-Pacific partners to
produce up to a billion coronavirus vaccine doses in India by
the end of 2022 to supply other Asian countries is "still on
track," senior U.S. officials said on Monday, despite a surge of
COVID-19 in India.
"It's moving forward expeditiously," a senior administration
official told reporters in a briefing call, referring to the
agreement last month between the leaders of the United States,
India, Japan and Australia, a grouping known as the Quad.
A fact sheet issued after the countries held a virtual
summit in March said the United States, through its
International Development Finance Corp, would work to finance
Indian drugmaker Biological E Ltd to produce at least 1 billion
COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of 2022.
It said Japan was in discussions to provide concessional yen
loans for India to expand vaccine output, and the Biden
administration said the doses would go to Southeast Asian
countries, elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, and beyond.
India had urged the other Quad members to invest in its
vaccine production capacity in an attempt to counter China's
widening vaccine diplomacy.
India has since become the latest epicenter of the pandemic,
threatening to overwhelm its healthcare system. U.S. President
Joe Biden announced on Sunday Washington would immediately send
raw materials for vaccines, medical equipment and protective
gear to India to help it respond to a massive surge in
coronavirus infections.
The White House said on Monday the United States would start
to share up to 60 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc's
coronavirus vaccine with other countries as soon as the next few
weeks.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Allison Martell, Humeyra Pamuk and
David Brunnstrom, Editing by Franklin Paul and Bill Berkrot)