Covid-19 Pandemic in India: Vaccinations fall from peak
India's daily Covid-19 vaccinations have slowed from their peak early this month while new infections have set a record, government data showed yesterday, as its main producer of shots urged the United States to end a ban on raw material exports.
After giving and selling tens of millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses abroad, India has suddenly found itself short of the drug. It has abruptly changed rules to allow it to fast-track vaccine imports, having earlier rebuffed foreign drugmakers like Pfizer.
Vaccinations peaked at 4.5 million doses on April 5 but have averaged about 3 million a day since then, according to the government's Co-Win portal to coordinate immunisations.
Facing debacle, India yesterday pledged to raise monthly production of its own Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin made by Bharat Biotech, about tenfold to nearly 100 million doses by September.
The ministry of science and technology, giving the September target, pegged current capacity at 10 million doses a month.
The ministry added that the government would provide $17 million in funding to boost Covaxin output. Apart from Bharat Biotech, two state-sector firms - Haffkine Biopharmaceutical and Indian Immunologicals Ltd - will develop a combined monthly capacity of up to 35 million doses in the coming months, under the plan.
India had been heavily reliant on the AstraZeneca vaccine, locally made by the Serum Institute of India (SII). It accounts for more than 91% of the 115.5 million doses given in the country. But production ramp-up at SII, the world's biggest vaccine maker, has been delayed by a raw-material shortage.
SII Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla directly appealed to US President Joe Biden to end the supply curb, which is aimed at supporting American vaccine companies, after diplomatic efforts made little progress.
"Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the US, I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the US so that vaccine production can ramp up," Poonawalla said on Twitter.
India has reported the most number of coronavirus cases in the world this month. Its total of 14.3 million is the most after the United States, with 174,308 deaths.
A massive second wave of infections forced authorities to restrict movement of people in Mumbai, New Delhi and other cities amid growing calls for faster vaccination rollouts.
The 217,353 new cases reported by the health ministry yesterday marked the eighth record daily increase in the last nine days and took the total number of cases to nearly 14.3 million.
Meankwhile, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday said the number of new Covid-19 cases per week has nearly doubled globally over the past two months, approaching the highest rate seen so far during the pandemic.
"Cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing focused on Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the western Pacific region.
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 2,987,891 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT yesterday.
On Thursday, 13,646 new deaths and 809,849 new cases were recorded worldwide. Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were Brazil with 3,560 new deaths, followed by India with 1,185 and United States with 974.
Many vaccination centres in India are now rationing supplies though it is only inoculating people above 45 years, having started the campaign in mid-January with front-line workers.
It has administered the most doses in the world after the United States and China, but it ranks much lower per capita.
Many states have sought an expansion of the immunisation drive to include all adults, but the government has said doses are "finite".
The government said on Friday the country had a stock of about 30 million doses. Going by its vaccination trend in the past week, that will be enough for 10 days.
India this week gave emergency authorisation to Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and imports to cover as many as 125 million people will start this month. The government has also urged Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson to sell their shots to India.
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