Congressman Ami Bera, Democrat from California and a physician by training, said he will work to ensure assistance to India to fight the covid disaster.  Representative Bera is the longest-serving Indian-American Member of Congress and also serves on the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans.

Bera, who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation said he was heartbroken at the tragedy unfolding in India and the thousands of lives being lost every day to COVID-19.

Over the past several days, he said in a statement released April 26, he has spoken with US administration officials regarding the COVID-19 outbreak in India, and the steps it is is taking to provide assistance, News India Times reported. 
 
“I applaud the Biden Administration for its decision to send urgently needed resources to help the Indian people, including raw materials necessary for vaccine development, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), rapid diagnostic testing, and oxygen-related supplies,” he said.

“I will continue to work with the Biden Administration and my colleagues in the US Congress to ensure assistance reaches the people of India and impacted communities around the world,” Bera added.

“COVID-19 is a global virus that requires global cooperation, driven by American ingenuity and leadership. We have an important role to play in ensuring the virus is defeated not only in the US, but around the world,” Bera asserted.

Another Indian American Congressman, Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, had earlier called on President Joe Biden to release millions of AstraZeneca vaccine doses to hardest-hit countries like India, the leading news weekly serving the Indian American community said. 

Rep. Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, said: “We are currently sitting on close to 40 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the U.S. stockpile, a stockpile which we’re not using and which we’ve already opened to combat COVID-19 in Mexico and Canada.”

“In order to curb the spread of this virus internationally and to protect public health and our international economy, we need to get these vaccines out the door now,” he asserted, adding, “I respectfully but strongly call on the Biden Administration to release millions of AstraZeneca vaccine doses to countries hardest-hit by the spread of COVID-19, including India, Argentina, and potentially others.”

He said developments in India was  “endangering civilians of all regions and backgrounds and presenting a global public health and economic threat,” Krishnamoorthi warned.(SAM)