US-India to partner on developing vaccine for coronavirus

New Delhi, Apr 01: In a bid to combat the outbreak of the COVID-19, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo called his called his counterpart India's External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar.

Our close cooperation is imperative to combat the coronavirus including strengthening global pharmaceutical and healthcare manufacturing and supply chains, Pompeo told Jaishankar.

Senior State Department official, Alice Wells hoped that India and the US would collaborate in developing a vaccine to end the epidemic just like they had partnered for 25 years to develop the rotavirus vaccine that is expected to save the lives of 80,000 children in the country every year.

During the call, the two also discussed the need to keep open supply chains, especially for COVID-19 related medicine equipment and medicines. It may be recalled that the trade chiefs of the G-20 countries halon Monday discussed the issue of countries wanting to preserve stocks of medicines for their citizens versus catering to the humanitarian needs of people in other countries.

The call between Pompeo and Jaishankar is part of the worldwide effort by leaders to keep in touch through video-conferencing and phone conversations to solve problems relating to health issued and global finance.