President Trump said Friday the U.S. will donate excess ventilators to India amid the coronavirus pandemic, following through on a White House pledge to send the machines abroad after a manufacturing blitz exceeded needs at home.
“I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India. We stand with India and @narendramodi during this pandemic,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “We’re also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!”
India is home to the Serum Institute of India, a major vaccine manufacturer that’s said it can pump out millions of doses of a vaccine being developed by Oxford University in the U.K.
Mr. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have forged a close bond. The president feted Mr. Modi at a rally in Houston last year, and the Indian leader returned the favor during a two-day trip by Mr. Trump to India in late February.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of severe disruptions from the coronavirus as Mr. Trump returned from India at the time — predictions that proved prescient.
The administration scrambled to produce much-needed ventilators that help COVID-19 patients breathe, even invoking the Defense Production Act to get private companies to produce them at automobile plants.
Mr. Trump likes to boast that despite naysayers who predicted shortfalls, no one died from COVID-19 because they needed a ventilator.
He says the U.S. is the “king of ventilators” and they will help out nations who need them.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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