By David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina
WASHINGTON, Mar 9 (Reuters) – A first meeting of leaders of the alliance of “Quad” countries on Friday plans to announce financing agreements to support an increase in capacity to manufacture coronavirus vaccines in India, an official told Reuters. of senior of the American administration.
The financing agreements will be between the United States, Japan and others and will focus especially on Indian companies and institutions that manufacture vaccines for US pharmaceutical companies Novavax Inc and Johnson & Johnson, said the official, who did not want to be identified by name.
The objective of the initiative of the “Quad” alliance, which brings together the United States, India, Japan and Australia, would be to reduce manufacturing delays, speed up vaccination and overcome some mutations of the coronavirus, said the official.
“The idea is that the faster you can vaccinate, the more you can defeat some of these mutations. So this is a capability that will go live later this year and will substantially increase our capacity as a whole,” he added.
Part of the additional vaccine capacity created in India would be used for vaccination efforts in Southeast Asian countries, the official said.
The White House announced earlier Tuesday that President Joe Biden will participate in an online meeting of the “Quad” group on Friday, the first alliance-level gathering seen as part of efforts to balance growing military and economic power. from China.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina, Edited in Spanish by Manuel Farías)
