Letter to the President - Khanna, India Caucus Urges Biden to Do More for India

Letter

President Biden,

As the bipartisan Co-Chairs and Vice Chairs of the House Caucus on India and Indian Americans, we are extremely concerned with regards to India's deadly COVID-19 second wave. India is now the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wednesday was the country's deadliest day with 3,293 deaths reported, carrying the total to 201,187 fatalities. According to Reuters, one person is dying of COVID every four minutes in the capital New Delhi, one of the hardest-hit cities. The sharp increase in cases has severely strained the healthcare system, overwhelming hospitals, and depleting oxygen supplies. India is in great need of oxygen, therapeutics, and vaccines.

Reflecting the strength of the U.S.-India relationship, we thank you for ordering the delivery of supplies worth more than $100 million to provide urgent relief to India. From oxygen support, personal protective equipment (PPE), rapid diagnostic tests, to therapeutics, U.S. support for India is a testament to the seven decades of U.S.-India health partnership. The United States and India have worked closely together to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our support for India to help beat back this latest wave is in the U.S. national interest as the pandemic will not end anywhere until it ends everywhere.

Per our recent conversation with India's Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India still desperately requires several items, most notably oxygen and oxygen production equipment. The images and stories of patients in desperate need of oxygen with nowhere to turn put a human face on India's urgent need for this equipment. Thus, we would welcome your immediate attention to provide India with the following items:

Oxygen Cylinders, 10 liters and 45 liters Liquid Medical Oxygen Capacity
Oxygen Concentrators
Oxygen Generator Plants
In addition to oxygen and related systems, India also needs several other items including:

Remdesivir
Tocilizumab
Ventilators/BiPAP
We sincerely appreciate your effort to provide India in the coming days with the additional supplies listed above and to work to supply other items that India might need as the second wave continues to surge, such as additional PPE and tests.

It is also in the U.S. interest for everyone in India to be vaccinated. To the extent it is possible, we hope that you will work to provide India with vaccines. With this in mind, we welcome recently announced plans to make available sources of raw materials to help India manufacture more vaccines. Further, we ask that you share with India surplus doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as soon as possible. Finally, we also understand that India is eager to domestically produce high-quality U.S. vaccines. We hope that you work with the private sector to assess how the U.S. can best advance cooperation in this regard.

As you continue to assess the situation in India, we ask that you consider fulfilling the additional needs outlined above. As long as COVID persists in India, there is the potential for additional variants that could pose a serious threat to a vaccinated America. We must do our part to quell the virus everywhere it persists. We thank you again for your commitments to date to support our ally India through this COVID crisis, and we look forward to continuing to work with you to advance the U.S.-India relationship.

Sincerely,

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