NEW DELHI: After US President Joe Biden made an announcement that its administration will distribute COVID-19 vaccines to other countries including India as part of its 'strategy for global vaccine sharing,' US Vice President Kamala Harris called Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inform him about her administration's decision to help India by sending the vaccines to the country.

PM Modi expressed his appreciation for the assurance of vaccine supplies to Inia as part of the US Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing, under which India is expected to get the first batch of doses by the month-end.

In a series of tweets, Modi also thanked Harris for all the support and solidarity from the US government, businesses and the Indian diaspora. PM also said that the two discussed ongoing efforts to further strengthen India-US vaccine cooperation, and the potential of our partnership to contribute to post-Covid global health and economic recovery.

The US Biden administration had recently announced that the US will begin sharing the first 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines with countries as part of the framework for sharing at least 80 million vaccines globally by the end of June through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, which is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

As per its initiative, Biden has said that at least 75 per cent of these doses which is nearly 19 million, will be shared through COVAX, including approximately 6 million doses for Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately 7 million for South and Southeast Asia, and approximately 5 million for Africa, working in coordination with the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The remaining doses, just over 6 million, will be shared directly with countries experiencing surges, those in crisis, and other partners and neighbours, including Canada, Mexico, India, and the Republic of Korea.

It is estimated that India will get about 2 to 3 million doses in the first tranche of doses via COVAX and directly from the US which is close to one day's dose for the country. As per the health ministry released data, on Wednesday 2 June, more than 22 lakh vaccine Doses had been administered across the country on the 138th day of the nationwide drive and the cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed the 22 crore mark.

Notably, the development comes days after India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar met key officials in the Biden administration in Washington DC. Commencing the second leg of his US visit on 28 May, Jaishankar had met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan wherein they held an hourlong meeting discussing wide-ranging issues including the Indo-Pacific and Afghanistan in Washington.