The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has announced it will support Indian manufacturer Biological E's efforts to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022 with stringent regulatory authorization (SRA) and/or WHO Emergency Use listing including Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
The announcement is part of the agency's Global Health and Prosperity Initiative, under which the agency is working to increase manufacturing, production and distribution capacity for vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Biden-Harris Administration highlighted the announcement during the Quad Summit, at which the leaders from the US, Australia, India, and Japan announced a landmark partnership to further accelerate the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first Quad summit was held on Friday in a virtual format.
A DFC release said Biological E is a woman-run and woman-operated business, advancing DFC's 2X Women's Initiative to promote global gender equity.
"DFC will work with Indian manufacturer Biological E Ltd. to finance increased capacity to support Biological E's effort to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022," the release said.
"The vaccines Biological E plans to produce with the assistance of DFC's financing complement existing efforts to vaccinate as many people in the world as possible in the shortest amount of time," it added.
DFC Chief Operating Officer David Marchick said expanding vaccine manufacturing, especially the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters, will help increase vaccination rates and protect communities around the world.
"It is hard to conceive of an investment with a greater developmental impact than using our financial tools to increase the capacity of vaccine manufacturing to help developing countries in Asia and around the world respond to COVID-19 and other diseases," he said.
The release further said that DFC is strengthening global health systems by working to provide businesses with financing to increase capacity in the manufacturing, production and distribution of vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine.
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