The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Why India Could Delay Delivering Coronavirus Vaccines To The Rest Of The World

2021-02-23T10:07:27.816Z


It produces three-fifths of the world's supply of all types of serum and the prime minister launched one of the largest and most ambitious vaccination campaigns with the aim of inoculating the country's 1.3 billion inhabitants.


02/23/2021 6:00 AM

  • Clarín.com

  • World

Updated 02/23/2021 6:00 AM

The CEO of the Indian pharmaceutical giant that dozens of countries count on to supply them with coronavirus vaccines said

its deliveries could be delayed

because it had been "instructed" to meet domestic needs before export orders.

"Dear countries and governments," wrote the executive, Adar Poonawalla, of the Serum Institute of India, in a tweet warning of the delays.

"

I humbly ask you to be patient," he

wrote, adding that his company had been instructed to prioritize "the enormous needs of India and, along with it, harmonize the needs of the rest of the world. We are doing everything possible."

He did not say who issued the directive

, and the Serum Institute did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

India produces three-fifths of the world's supply

of all types of vaccines, and the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has launched one of the largest and most ambitious vaccination campaigns in the world with the goal of inoculating 1.3 billion people. from India.

But although the country already has a huge immunization program, administering some 390 million vaccines against diseases such as measles and tuberculosis in an average year, India

is struggling to get COVID vaccines to the population

.

Less than 1% of Indians have been inoculated since mid-January.

The pandemic has so far caused at least 10.9 million known coronavirus infections, more than in any other nation except the United States.

Two vaccines

The country's regulatory bodies

have approved two vaccines:

one developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and produced by the Serum Institute, and another - still in trials - developed by the National Institute of Virology with Bharat Biotech, a local pharmaceutical company that will manufacture the doses.

The Serum Institute will also develop doses of a vaccine developed by Novovax once it is approved.

In addition to helping supply India and other customers,

the company is expected to produce hundreds of millions

of doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and more than 1 billion Novovax vaccines to be distributed through the COVAX global vaccination initiative, whose The goal is to ensure that 92 low- and middle-income countries receive vaccines at the same time as the 98 richest countries in the world.

COVAX did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Poonawalla alert that other countries would have to wait to receive the vaccines.

Many developing countries

want the AstraZeneca vaccine because it is much less expensive

and much easier to store and transport than other COVID vaccines currently in use.

This also makes it suitable for India's extensive vaccination campaign, which must reach from the towering Himalayan mountains to the dense jungles of the south of the country.

The Indian government has increasingly used the country's vaccine manufacturing capacity as a

bargaining chip for its international diplomacy

, in competition with China, which has made vaccine distribution a central element of its foreign relations.

Last week, for example, India promised to donate 200,000 doses of vaccines for United Nations peacekeepers around the world.

Sameer Yasir.

The New York Times

PB


Look also

Inequality between rich and poor countries: 10% of the world's population kept 45% of the coronavirus vaccines

Russia registers its third coronavirus vaccine as Europe mistrusts Sputnik

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-02-23

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-15T06:00:59.458Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.