1,000 signatures reached
To: President Joe Biden
America must help India through its COVID crisis
The United States can and must help India through its ravaging COVID crisis:
- We are sitting on approximately 30 million doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine which we will likely never use. Those should be immediately sent to COVID hot-spots in India such as Pune, Mumbai and Delhi.
- We are embargoing critical ingredients for vaccines which India needs to make vaccines. We must release and share some of them so that India can make more vaccines.
- We must offer to help with doctors, oxygen -- whatever we have that can help the dire situation in India.
- The world needs an affordable and effective vaccine that can be easily and cheaply mass produced everywhere. Dr. Peter Hotez & Maria Bottazzi of the Baylor College of Medicine have developed an affordable, effective vaccine that is made using 40-year old technology that would cost just $1.50 a dose and could easily be manufactured worldwide in the billions. The federal government must assist and accelerate their philanthropic efforts.
- American consulates in India should offer vaccines to American citizens, and to Indians who plan to travel to the U.S. American consulates should have a clear and communicated plan to assist American citizens if they get sick, helping to get them medical care in India or abroad.
Why is this important?
India is in the midst of the world's worst COVID outbreak. Hospitals in India are stretched beyond their breaking point. Mass crematoriums cannot keep pace with the constant stream of the dying.
Helping India in its hour of crisis is the right thing to do morally – but it's also the right thing for America. None of us are safe until the entire world is rid of COVID.