India and US did more than any other country in Covid fight: WH official

Highlighting the massive efforts by the two countries in vaccinating their people along with supporting and donating to other nations, the official applauded India-America friendship

India and the US have done more than any other nation in the fight global against COVID-19, the White House's top health official has said, as he highlighted the massive efforts by the two countries to vaccinate their people along with supporting and donating to other nations to tackle the pandemic.

Dr Ashish Jha, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, said he had a lot of time in the last two and a half years thinking about and working on the pandemic.

"I can't think of two nations that have done more to vaccinate and protect their own populations, and to donate and support and vaccinate and protect the world than India and the United States, Jha said in his remarks at a reception hosted by India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, at the India House to celebrate 75th anniversary of independence.

So it is in that light that I think we look at an evening like tonight, where Indians and Indian Americans and Americans come together to celebrate what I think is a monumental occasion, Jha said.

He said it was "an incredible honor and pleasure" to celebrate 75 years of India's independence, democracy and the Indian-American friendship.

As a proud Indian-American, I am grateful for the words that our President Joe Biden used, who reminded us that the three or three and a half million of us who are Indian Americans, the vibrant Indian American community has made America more innovative, more inclusive, and a stronger nation, he said.

Jha said India and the US are the world's two most consequential democracies.

He said the shared values of promoting human dignity and human freedom, pluralism, belief and the rule of law, have brought the two nations together.

"Those are values that people around the world yearn for. And when our two nations work to promote those values, we make the world a better place, Jha said.