India's Coronavirus vaccine export might be impacted due to domestic demands: GAVI

Amid a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, India is likely to make a fewer number of vaccines available to other countries, the head of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) said in an interview to a news network. India has been the largest supplier of vaccines for the developing world. 

Since the outbreak of the new wave of COVID-19, the Indian government has stepped up their vaccination programmes, and the country is in need of more doses, which means fewer doses have been made available for the rest of the world, Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI informed in an interview.

"We had expected, in March and April, about 90 million doses, and we suspect we'll get much, much less than that, and that is a problem," he added. 

"But we're in a race because we also see wealthy countries beginning to cover much of their population. Our hope is that they will begin to make their vaccines available to the rest of the world, including ones that they may not use. For example, the US not only has Moderna, Pfizer, and J&J, but they also have vaccines from Novavax and, of course, from AstraZeneca," Berkley further said.

GAVI Alliance is a public-private partnership that works to provide vaccines for developing countries. It provides about 50 percent of the world's children with vaccines.

Meanwhile, World Bank President David Malpass has said that the Serum Institute of India is blessed to have a major manufacturer of global vaccines and he is encouraged by the country's ramping up of its domestic vaccination programme. Malpass made the comments on Monday during a media roundtable ahead of the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

"I've had substantial contact with the Serum Institute. India is blessed with having a major manufacturer of global vaccines in India, " he said.

COVID-19 Cases In India 

COVID cases in India hit a record daily high since the outbreak of the pandemic with 1,03,558 new infections pushing the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,25,89,067, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The single-day rise in cases surpassed the earlier peak of 97,894 infections reported on September 17, last year, making it the highest so far. The death toll increased to 1,65,101 with 478 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

(With Agency Inputs)

Image: PTI/Representative Image