Corporate America has sprung into action to help the people of India grapple with the devastating second wave in the Covid-19 pandemic. Here is a small sample of announcements from the last 24 hours:
- Air Products is allocating resources and assets from its operations around the world to support and maximize the supply and distribution of oxygen within India during this period of crisis. The company will to deliver multiple ISO LOX oxygen containers to India by air. These large storage containers will then be filled with medical oxygen within India by INOX Air Products its joint venture partner, who will coordinate their transport to needed areas.
- Mastercard donated $10 million to India via the Mastercard Impact Fund, focused on three priority areas – access to hospital resources, access to additional oxygen supplies, and continued support of the company’s employees across the country.
- Gilead Sciences donates at least 450,000 vials of Veklury (remdesivir) to the Government of India to help ease the immediate need for treatment. The company is providing its voluntary licensing partners with technical assistance, support for the addition of new local manufacturing facilities, and the donation of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) to rapidly scale up production of remdesivir.
- Deloitte ships 1,000 oxygen concentrators today with 11,000 more to follow by end of week. Fedex and a number of airlines are offering free shipping of medical supplies to India.
- Tim Cook of Apple joined Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Sundar Pichai of Google in committing resources to help India in its time of need.
In other news, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, committing that the United States and India will work closely together in the fight against COVID-19. The President pledged America’s steadfast support for the people of India who have been impacted by the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. In response, the United States is providing a range of emergency assistance, including oxygen-related supplies, vaccine materials, and therapeutics.
