India is the second most populous country and the largest producer of Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, thanks to the home of the Serum Institute of India (SII) – a biotechnology and pharmaceutical company that accounts for 60 percent of the world’s vaccine supply. ‘ a CNN report.
But recent U.S. and European restrictions on the export of critical Covid-19 vaccine production materials have led to a severe shortage of vaccines across the country. Many of the nearly 1.4 billion inhabitants are now waiting for shots during a deadly second wave of coronavirus.
India on Sunday reported a record high of 261,500 new cases, the highest figure since the start of the pandemic. The country also added a million new cases in less than a week, reaching a total of more than 14 million cases.
The boom has once again forced India to shut down, with Delhi, the country’s capital region, introducing night and weekend spending to curb the spread of the virus.
India is also a major manufacturer delivering COVAX, the international manufacturing and distribution agreement Covid-19. SII originally committed to manufacturing up to 200 million doses in 92 countries. These plans are being drawn up for the time being.
“Delivery of doses from the Serum Institute of India will be delayed in March and April,” reads a March 25 statement by COVAX, which is run by a coalition including the World Health Organization. “Delays in the supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses manufactured by SII are due to the increased demand for Covid-19 vaccines in India.”
SII has an agreement to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as a native vaccine called Covaxin. It has already provided 28 million doses for COVAX distribution and would deliver another 40 million doses in April and 50 million in May, according to the CNN report.
In January, however, the Indian government restricted the export of their doses of AstraZeneca, a decision that John Nkengasong, director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called “catastrophic” for Africa in early April. The continent would get much of the vaccine supply via COVAX.
When India launched its vaccination program in January, it set a goal of vaccinating 300 million people fully by the end of August, but to date only 16 million people have been given at full doses, just over 1 percent of the country’s population, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
US and European export limits hurt India’s supply
In early February, President Joe Biden enacted the U.S. Defense Production Act to restrict the export of manufacturing supplies needed for the production of Covid-19. The White House said at the time that it had used the act to increase pharmaceutical giant Merck with the production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, whose U.S. distribution has recently been hampered by a very limited number of potentially harmful side effects. to investigate. rare cases.
At the end of March, the European Union introduced similar export restrictions to help increase European vaccine production. Together, the two export bans hit SII particularly hard.
“There are a lot of bags, filters and critical items that manufacturers need,” SII CEO Adar Poonawalla told Reuters in early March. “The Novavax vaccine, of which we are a major manufacturer, requires these articles from the US.”
The export ban has an effect on global vaccine production, just as the world has started dealing with a very deadly wave of new Covid-19 variants. On Saturday, the world passed 3 million deaths due to the virus.
But not everyone in the Indian government puts the blame on the export limits. Both Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Interior Minister Amit Shah have claimed that the country has the vaccines it needs, and that the shortages are due to poor planning in individual states. In a statement issued on April 7, Vardhan singled out Maharashtra, one of the worst affected Indian states in the pandemic, as particularly disorganized.
India intends to extend its vaccine approval
Even with its accusations against states, the federal government may be starting to get the blame, or at least some responsibility. India on Tuesday announced its plans to track down emergency permits for vaccines approved elsewhere by the WHO but not currently being administered in the country. These include Pfizer / BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax and Moderna.
But there is still a long way to go, and despite the mudslinging between the state and federal branches of government in India, it is clear that the main cause of the shortfall is likely to come from the export limits. As richer EU and North American countries begin to look beyond the virus and their vaccination programs increase the delivery of the required doses, the US vaccinated more than 209 million doses as of Sunday. The rest of the world seems to be lagging behind.
Vaccination centers across India were forced to close due to lack of doses, and the global supply chain will apparently remain tense until material exports start flowing from the West.