Washington: the Biden administration has come under criticism from multiple sides, including from members and supporters of the Democratic Party, for failing to release surplus COVID-19 vaccines in India as the country experiences the worst public health crisis in India. his history.

Indo-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi urged the Biden administration to release doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in countries currently experiencing the deadly spike in COVID-19 cases.

“When people in India and elsewhere are in desperate need of help, we can’t leave vaccines in a warehouse, we have to get them where they will save lives. We are currently sitting on nearly 40 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the US stockpile, a stock that we are not using and that we have already opened to fight COVID-19 in Mexico and Canada, ”he said. -he declares.

“To stop the spread of this virus internationally and to protect public health and our international economy, the United States must release these vaccines now. I respectfully but strongly call on the Biden administration to release millions of doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in countries hardest hit by the spread of COVID-19, including India, Argentina and potentially others, ”said declared Krishnamoorthi.

A record single-day increase of 3.46,786 coronavirus cases on Saturday pushed India’s infection count to 1.66,10,481, as active cases broke the 25 lakh mark.

The Biden administration is losing any goodwill it has acquired in recent months, Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institute said in a tweet.

The Indian public has now seen the tweets of the Pakistani Prime Minister and Iranian FM; has received offers of help from Russia and China – that is, even from a country with which it has had hostilities. He has not heard from any senior American official. The Biden administration is losing any goodwill it has gained in recent months, Madan said.

Indian-American Sonal Shah, who was part of the Biden campaign, tweeted that she had lost five family members in India.

“The COVID crisis in India is real and it will become a humanitarian crisis if it isn’t already. Our US government must do something. It will quickly spread to other countries, ”Shah said.

Also Read: Indo-Americans Take Control Of United States, Joe Biden Says To Meet NASA

Jeff M Smith from the Heritage Foundation think tank said it should be remembered that when New York and other parts of America faced a public health emergency in late 2020, the Indian government lifted a ban on export of the active pharmaceutical ingredient hydroxychloroquine, despite strong criticism. at home.

“The number of excess vaccines available after every American is immunized is estimated to be around 70 million. The United States has adequate supplies and more. Now is the time to relax the prioritization measures and the products that fall under the Defense Production Act (DPA), ”said Smith.

President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump invoked the war DPA which leaves US companies no choice but to prioritize the production of COVID-19 vaccines and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the domestic production to combat the deadly pandemic in America, the nation most affected.

“The coronavirus outbreak in India could collapse its healthcare system. The United States can help, ”Ashish K Jha, a leading American public health scholar, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.

“It’s time for the United States, the world’s oldest democracy, to come to the aid of this key global ally,” he wrote in an op-ed.

“The Biden administration must lead the way in sending our excess vaccine supply to India and other countries in crisis,” he said.

“Only the United States has the capacity, the resources and the technical know-how to bend the curve of the catastrophic second wave of disease in India,” he said.

“The faster we help our ally, the more lives will be saved. One democracy helping another in this time of crisis is exactly what the world needs now. It will be good for India. It will be good for the United States. And that will make the world a safer place, Jha wrote.

Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, said she was deeply disturbed by the exploding health crisis in India.

The situation in India is desperate, said Dr Audrey Truschke, Associate Professor of South Asian History at Rutgers University.

“The United States should free up surplus supplies to help deal with this humanitarian crisis. We must help alleviate human suffering, she said.

Biden has waged his entire campaign to ‘restore the soul of our nation’ and now he can either actively help the crisis in India or stay with Big Pharma. You might think all that soul talk would weigh on him, tweeted Ryan Grim, DC bureau chief at The Intercept.

Pretty sure there was an “America First” candidate on the ballot and he didn’t win, he said.