New Delhi: Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and Iran have become the first recipient of the vaccine exports continued from India for almost eight months after they were stopped due to the increasing Covid-19 case.
The government has stopped the exports of vaccines as a brutal second wave hit India in April-May this year.
Only after India has been given close to one billion doses of vaccine to restrict the government’s relax.
Commercial contracts are also stored in delays because production is obtained for domestic use.
India continues exporting to Covax facilities with many doses of landing in African countries.
Adar Poonawalla, head of the Indian Serum Institute, quoted by the AXIOS news website said that this week, he expected the covishield dose to land in African countries.
“I think on November 10, you will see the first – if not a little faster – you will see the first dose of arriving in Africa,” said Poonawalla to Axios.
After shipping begins, Poonawalla said about 30 million doses per month can be supplied to Covax.
India now has a long list of vaccines – Covavax, Corbevax, Zycovd, Vaccine MRNA Gennova – at various stages of regulatory approval.
The first 50 million dosage of the Covavax produced by SII will run to Indonesia this week even though this vaccine has not been triggered by DCGI India, WHO or US FDA.
While the government focuses on more and more Indians covered by second jab, it is clear that inventory is no longer an obstacle.
Vaccine producers chew little, because they have to go to the world with their exports.
However, there are still worries about the third wave and repetition of deficiencies faced during the second wave and uncertainty about the volume of production and the manufacturer’s schedule.
Here, government sources say they are limping by the launch of a slow covaxin by Bharat Biotech.
Without SII doing a weight lift (more than 88% of doses are covishield), India will not be able to increase its vaccination as soon as it.
Until mid October, Bharat Biotech only provided around 11 crore doses compared to 40 crores promised by the government to the Supreme Court.
Sputnik V, the third vaccine approved by India, stopped production because Russia could not simply supply.
Until mid-October, they only provided 45 lakhs against the 10th crore promised.
In fact, globally, Russia has promised a billion vaccines, but has not been able to provide more than 5 million.
This means most of Africa, Latin America and even Asia still don’t terrace.
China moves aggressively, capturing the market, even though their vaccines are proven to be far below par.
Indian vaccine producers are well positioned to lead globally about this.
With the advanced world that comes in for booster and scientific evidence tilting to provide a vulnerable population booster after 6-8 months, it won’t be long before India also has to call them.
For government regulators, there are more reasons to hold on to vaccines for India.