India is hopeful the U.S. will soon lift a ban on vaccine raw materials that has threatened to slow output of shots in the country, two Indian government sources told Reuters on Monday, after the foreign ministers of the two nations spoke.
One of the officials said the administration of President Joe Biden had told India that its request was being considered and would be acted upon "at the earliest."
Washington has invoked the wartime powers of the Defense Production Act to preserve vaccine raw materials for its own companies, but the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker, has said this went against the global goal of sharing vaccines equitably.
Asked about the restrictions on exports, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said inequities in access to vaccines were "completely unacceptable," but declined to detail additional U.S. action to address that.
The potential movement on raw materials comes days after the SII chief executive tweeted directly to Biden to end the supply curb.
"U.S. needs to lift restrictions for APIs without which there cannot be vaccines for all," said one of the sources, referring to active pharmaceutical ingredients.
SII is licensed to make the AstraZeneca shot as well as another developed by U.S. company Novavax.
