Washington:
A best American civil rights leader has urged President Joe Biden to release 60 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses for India, which is battling a devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has not been authorized by the US and is unlikely to be utilised by the Biden administration.
Joe Biden had lately stated that he intended to give AstraZeneca vaccines to other nations.
At a news conference in Chicago, American civil rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson stated he would speak to Biden to promptly release 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to India.
Mass level vaccination is stated to be the only remedy to the present public overall health crisis in India, he stated.
“They are human beings. As the wind blows, if we don’t stop it today, it’ll spread around the world,” he stated.
Expressing concern more than the present circumstance in India, Rev Jackson stated he will personally speak to the healthcare sector to donate oxygen concentrators and cylinders to India and adhere to up with the pharmaceutical giants to guarantee therapeutic supplies to the nation.
Other Indian Americans from the Chicago region echoed related sentiments.
“It is everyone’s duty to help India flatten this COVID-19 surge as we live in a world that cannot be separated by borders,” stated Dr Vijay Prabhakar, the chairman of American Association of Multiethnic Physicians.
“Based on the current projections some of the models are suggesting, there may be 1 million deaths by the end of August. As we know, that would be a tragic humanitarian crisis,” stated Dr Srinivas Reddy, the trustee of Chicago Medical Society.