India’s ban on vaccine exports probably took into account President Joe Biden’s resolution this week to send another 20 million COVID-19 vaccines abroad.
By mid-March, immunization services in India had produced more than 60 million doses shipped worldwide, but the Indian government began restricting those exports after the coronavirus surged in India in late March. With new COVID-19 cases averaging more than 250,000 consistent with an average days and deaths of more than 4,200, Indian officials said the ban on vaccine exports could last until October.
The ban has greatly affected COVAX, the foreign effort to supply vaccines to poorer countries. The Indian Serum Institute, which produces the AstraZeneca vaccine, is intended to be a key component of COVAX. Without these AstraZeneca vaccines, COVAX lacks about 150 million doses.
Biden’s leadership has faced increasing tension in distributing more vaccines abroad. Biden disappointed Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in March by refusing to administer vaccines from the United States. In May, when the crisis in India worsened, tensions increased. Macron suggested Biden “end the ban on exports of vaccines and parts of vaccines that save their production. “Adar Poonawalla, ceo of the Serum Institute of India, expressed his feelings on Twitter.
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Technically, the United States has a ban on the export of COVID-19 vaccines, however, Biden invoked the Defense Production Act in January, which promises that vaccine devices will first supply orders in the United States.
Biden pledged to donate 60 million vaccines to other countries in April; however, this made little difference to the United States, as these were AstraZeneca vaccines, which the Food and Drug Administration still has legal use in the United States. will come from Pfizer, Modern and Johnson
The total 80 million doses are expected to be shipped until June, but for many countries affected by India’s ban, additional doses cannot arrive early enough.
Authorities in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka said their countries were about to run out of vaccines. All three countries had signed agreements with the Serum Institute to purchase the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Many African countries have administered all the doses of AstraZenca they have received, and the export ban has left many others without the dose at the moment.
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“Health officials had to continue adjusting their vaccination plans very quickly. It is known when the batch of vaccines will arrive,” Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Centre for Population and Health Research in Nairobi, told DW News.