French President Emmanuel Macron took potshots at the Joe Biden administration in the United States for blocking export of raw materials required for the manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines. While he did not take any names, Emmanuel Macron highlighted how India has been badly treated with regards to combating the Covid-19 pandemic at the G7 summit.
India, & in particular SII, blocked by export restrictions on ingredients needed to produce vaccines from certain G7 economies. Restrictions must be lifted so India can produce more for itself&quickly supply Africans in particular, who are dependent on its production: French Pres
— ANI (@ANI) June 11, 2021
Macron said, “There have been export bans by several G7 member countries that blocked production in other countries and sometimes blocked production in middle-income countries, which is essential for production of vaccines for poorest countries. I’ll take just one example, India.”
He proceeded to add, “India, and in particular SII, blocked by export restrictions on ingredients needed to produce vaccines from certain G7 economies. Restrictions must be lifted so India can produce more for itself and quickly supply Africans in particular, who are dependent on its production.”
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), had said in April that COVID-19 vaccines in the country had taken a hit because of the restrictions imposed by the United States and the European countries on the export of critical raw material. He had appealed to Joe Biden to lift the embargo.
The embargo on the export of vaccine raw materials had hit production of the Covid-19 vaccine Covovax. India was relying heavily on Covovax for its inoculation efforts but the raw material embargo by the USA has deferred the arrival of the vaccine in Indian markets by at least 3 months. India was set to purchase 1 billion doses of the vaccine and it will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
