Hyderabad's Biological E to produce Covid vax for Indo-Pacific region

New Delhi: In their first ever summit, leaders of the four-nation Quad have finalised a landmark initiative under which huge investments will be made in India to create additional production capacities to roll out a billion coronavirus vaccine doses for exports to the Indo-Pacific region, seen as a significant step to counter China's expanding vaccine diplomacy.

The Quad leaders — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Scott Morrison and Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga, vowed to strive for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, inclusive, healthy, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion, sending an apparent message to China.

The Quad leaders also decided to create three working groups in areas of vaccine, climate crisis and critical and emerging technology. In his opening remarks at the virtual summit, Modi said the four-nation Quad has come of age and its agenda covering areas like vaccines, climate change and emerging technologies makes it a force for global good.

Hyderabad-based Biological E will be the partner manufacturer in the vaccine initiative launched by the Quad group in the summit. For now, Johnson and Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine has been identified, among other US developed vaccines, by the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to be manufactured in India with an aim to reach the one billion doses by end of 2022.

Biological E is a woman-run and woman-operated business "advancing DFC's 2X Women's Initiative to promote global gender equity," said the US DFC. Biological E was established in 1953 and is headed by Mahima Datla — the Managing Director and CEO of the company.

The DFC is America's development bank. DFC partners with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the developing world today. "The announcement was just made on Friday, the deal between J&J and BE is on the track. We are yet to receive an official document from the Development Finance Corporation. Once it reaches us, we will go through the fine details and release a statement," sources said. The agency seeks to invest between $5 million and $500 million per eligible project through its full range of financial tools, which includes equity and debt financing, political risk insurance and technical development.

India's foreign secretary Harshvardhan Shringla also said that the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Japan Bank of International Cooperation will be the other agencies financing the initiative.

Australia will contribute $77 million for the provision of vaccines and "last-mile" delivery support, with a focus on Southeast Asia, in addition to its existing commitment of US $407 million for regional vaccine access and health security. Japan will assist vaccination programs of developing countries such as the purchase of vaccines and cold-chain support including through provision of grant aid of $41 million and new concessional yen loans, ensuring alignment with and support of COVAX.

The United States will leverage existing programs to further boost vaccination capability, drawing on at least $100 million in regional efforts focused on immunisation.

In his opening remarks at the first Quad summit level meeting, US President Joe Biden had introduced the initiative. Under this mechanism, US developed vaccines will be manufactured in India, financed by US and Japan and the last mile distribution, storage and movement in the Indo-Pacific will be handled by Australia.

The Quad summit fact sheet said, "Together, Quad leaders are taking shared action necessary to expand safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing in 2021, and will work together to strengthen and assist countries in the Indo-Pacific with vaccination, in close coordination with the existing relevant multilateral mechanisms, including WHO and COVAX."