The Covid outbreak in India is putting the rest of the world at risk and is leaving a “humanitarian catastrophe” in its wake, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health warned Monday.
“India is a big country, and if there are large outbreaks there, of course we’re going to worry about more variants, which will be bad for Indians, and … it will spread around the world,” said Dr. Ashish Jha. “So part of keeping America safe is vaccinating the whole world.”
The White House pledged to send more than $100 million worth of medical supplies to India as the country breaks global infection records on a near-daily basis. The country recorded more than 300,000 new cases for 12 straight days, but experts fear the real numbers could be much higher. Data shows that only about 2% of India’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid.
Jha told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that because the U.S. is now at a point where it has a greater supply of vaccines than demand, that the U.S. should distribute them globally.
“I think we should be sharing them more widely with the world, helping them get vaccinated, that’s how we’ll end the pandemic globally,” Jha said.