In a welcome move to address the vast vaccine disparity globally, India to resume exports from October much needed COVID-19 Comments. The decision comes after the government severely restricted vaccine exports in March and halted them in mid-April. The renewed export drive, known as Vaccine Maitri, will be the first priority Global Vaccine-Sharing Forum, COVAX, and neighboring countries. Just four days after the vaccination program started in India on January 16, India shipped the first batch of vaccines to Bhutan and the Maldives as a part of its vaccine diplomacy. As of mid-April, India had supplied about 20 million doses to COVAX and donated around 11 million, while about 36 million doses were sold to 26 countries. But with daily fresh cases and deaths in a second wave in March and the supply of vaccines from two manufacturers not meeting domestic demand, priorities changed quickly and exports of vaccines were halted. Exporting of vaccines by March was made possible mainly by the slow pace of vaccines by healthcare and frontline workers and the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured near the six-month expiration date late last year. With vaccine eligibility, daily uptake of vaccines also began to climb sharply – all adults above 45 years of age from 1 April and all adults above 18 years from 1 May.
With most developed countries hoarding vaccines and prioritizing their vaccination, and India also halting all exports, vaccine supplies to the COVAX facility have been hit. As a result, about 80% of the approximately six billion doses administered globally are in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Vaccine disparity in Africa is striking – only 2% of the six billion doses are administered here and less than 3.5% of its people are fully vaccinated. While efforts are being made through COVAX to increase the supply of the vaccine to Africa, the continent will still end up with 25% fewer doses than estimated by the end of 2021. Of the more than a billion doses pledged by developed countries, only 15% have reached Africa. , which has made unsuccessful attempts to purchase vaccines. And now, with the focus on efforts by the US and other developed countries to approve booster doses for certain categories, Africa and other countries will continue to restrict the supply of vaccines to vaccinate health care workers. A vaccination policy that leaves many countries deprived of a Global South vaccine would be extremely counterproductive. As long as vaccine disparity persists, the virus will continue to spread, increasing the likelihood of more dangerous variants, far more transmissible and resistant to vaccines, than Delta. Therefore, India’s decision to restart vaccine exports is commendable. The need to ramp up vaccine production here to sustain exports while meeting the ever-increasing domestic demand cannot be overemphasized.
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A welcome decision: on accelerating vaccine production
In a welcome move to address the vast vaccine disparity globally, India to resume exports from October much needed COVID-19 Comments. The decision comes after the government severely restricted vaccine exports in March and halted them in mid-April. The renewed export drive, known as Vaccine Maitri, will be the first priority Global Vaccine-Sharing Forum, COVAX, and neighboring countries. Just four days after the vaccination program started in India on January 16, India shipped the first batch of vaccines to Bhutan and the Maldives as a part of its vaccine diplomacy. As of mid-April, India had supplied about 20 million doses to COVAX and donated around 11 million, while about 36 million doses were sold to 26 countries. But with daily fresh cases and deaths in a second wave in March and the supply of vaccines from two manufacturers not meeting domestic demand, priorities changed quickly and exports of vaccines were halted. Exporting of vaccines by March was made possible mainly by the slow pace of vaccines by healthcare and frontline workers and the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured near the six-month expiration date late last year. With vaccine eligibility, daily uptake of vaccines also began to climb sharply – all adults above 45 years of age from 1 April and all adults above 18 years from 1 May.
With most developed countries hoarding vaccines and prioritizing their vaccination, and India also halting all exports, vaccine supplies to the COVAX facility have been hit. As a result, about 80% of the approximately six billion doses administered globally are in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Vaccine disparity in Africa is striking – only 2% of the six billion doses are administered here and less than 3.5% of its people are fully vaccinated. While efforts are being made through COVAX to increase the supply of the vaccine to Africa, the continent will still end up with 25% fewer doses than estimated by the end of 2021. Of the more than a billion doses pledged by developed countries, only 15% have reached Africa. , which has made unsuccessful attempts to purchase vaccines. And now, with the focus on efforts by the US and other developed countries to approve booster doses for certain categories, Africa and other countries will continue to restrict the supply of vaccines to vaccinate health care workers. A vaccination policy that leaves many countries deprived of a Global South vaccine would be extremely counterproductive. As long as vaccine disparity persists, the virus will continue to spread, increasing the likelihood of more dangerous variants, far more transmissible and resistant to vaccines, than Delta. Therefore, India’s decision to restart vaccine exports is commendable. The need to ramp up vaccine production here to sustain exports while meeting the ever-increasing domestic demand cannot be overemphasized.
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