COVAX, 'the global COVID vaccine equity scheme', has so far delivered 65 million doses to 124 countries and economies but it is dependent on countries and manufacturers honouring their commitments.
Calling for 'equal recognition of vaccines', COVAX on Thursday urged all governments to recognise as 'fully vaccinated' those people who have received COVID-19 vaccines deemed safe by World Health Organisation, saying any move that restricts travel of people based on the vaccines they have received is 'counter-effective, both in spirit and outcome'.
Serum Institute already has two deals of 100 million each to supply the Oxford-AstraZeneca and the Novavax vaccine to Gavi-Covax at $3 per dose.
However, before the Moderna and Pfizer messenger ribonucleic acid (or mRNA) vaccines come to India via this route, the legalities around the indemnity clause will have to be settled, reports Sohini Das.
But it is not clear when the jabs will arrive in the country as a consensus on the indemnity clause is yet to be reached, sources said.
'It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS.'
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday thanked Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya for announcing resumption of COVID-19 vaccine shipments to the COVAX global pool in October.
The 'terrible' surge of the coronavirus cases in India has severely impacted COVAX's vaccine supply in the second quarter of this year to the extent that there will be a shortfall of 190 million doses by the end of June, according to a joint statement by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and CEPI.
This week, global drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech said their COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 95 per cent effective, including in adults over 65 years of age.
India will resume export of surplus COVID-19 vaccines next month under the 'Vaccine Maitri' programme and to meet its commitment to the COVAX global pool, but vaccinating its own citizens remains the topmost priority of the government, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
According to the WHO, countries should join the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility) by September 18 but not later than October 9 with upfront payments.
COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organisation.
World leaders thanked India for its help and support in combating the coronavirus pandemic through "early and meaningful" shipments of COVID-19 vaccine doses, as they addressed the high-level UN General Assembly session this year.
SII would be scaling up its AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine manufacturing capacity to 200 million doses a month from 100 million a month now, reports Sohini Das.
The UNICEF is the world's largest single vaccine buyer, procuring more than 2 billion doses of various vaccines annually for routine immunisation and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries.
The Biden administration had been under pressure to send the excess COVID-19 vaccines with the US to nations like India, which are facing severe vaccine shortages.
Guterres reiterated his call for a COVID-19 vaccine to be a global public good available to everywhere and particularly, available in Africa.
This is the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a single country and a commitment by the American people to help protect people around the world from COVID-19, the White House said ahead of the announcement by Biden at the G-7 Summit in the UK.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Joe Biden have expressed 'deep pride' and appreciation about their nations' close cooperation to fight the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, as they noted that all sections of the society were mobilised in unprecedented ways to share emergency relief supplies during each country's times of need.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that the US will allocate 75 per cent - nearly 1.9 crore of the first tranche of 2.5 crore doses - of unused COVID-19 vaccines from its stockpile through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa.
India is committed to supplying COVID-19 vaccines to other nations and such supplies are likely to begin by the end of this year, as the abundant production will not just meet domestic needs but also generate surplus for exports a top government official said on Monday.
Voicing concern over many countries failing to vaccinate their people, World Health Organisation chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday called for vaccinating at least 10 per cent of the population of every country by September as he described vaccination as the best way to control the pandemic and reboot the global economy.
The development comes after requests for indemnity and exemption from bridging trials have been made by Pfizer and Moderna to the Indian government.
The vaccination, available at 48 designated clinics in 15 districts, began on December 24, targeting certain groups of people aged between 18 and 59 years, He Zhenyu, deputy director of the centre for disease control and prevention in Wuhan, told the media in Wuhan.
The Serum Institute of India has stockpiled 40 mn-50 mn doses and is adding more every week. Most of these will come to India.
The company has set an affordable ceiling price of USD 3 (around Rs 225) per dose, it added.
Giving the background on the decision to export vaccines, SII said, "In January 2021, we had a large stockpile of vaccine doses. Our vaccination drive had started successfully and the number of daily cases being recorded were at an all-time low."
Serum Institute of India plans to make 300 million doses of AZD1222 by December, and will begin phase-2 trials soon. It has also tied up with Novavax for development and commercialisation of its candidate.
Apart from making efforts to meet the requirements of India, the company is also trying its best to balance the needs of the rest of the world, he added.
The Wold Health Organisation has granted approval on June 1 to China's second COVID-19 vaccine, Sinovac, which was expected to strengthen China's vaccine diplomacy.
Adar Poonawalla said he was hopeful that Covovax, the Novavax vaccine made by SII, will be launched around October this year for adults and for children by the first quarter of next year, depending on DCGI approvals.
In the next two weeks, the United States will detail plans to equitably distribute about 80 million (8 crore) COVID-19 vaccine doses globally without 'political requirements' of those receiving them, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
The quantity of Covid vaccines to be exported will be decided by the government every month to ensure there is no dearth of domestic availability.
We are entering 2022, facing another infectious variant, with much the same baseless confidence, notes Mihir S Sharma.
India, which has shipped 'Made In India' COVID-19 vaccines to around 25 nations, on Wednesday urged the international community to stop 'vaccine nationalism' and actively encourage 'internationalism', underlining that hoarding superfluous doses will defeat global efforts to attain collective health security and combat the pandemic.
India's drug regulator Drugs Controller General of India has granted permission to Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company Cipla to import Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for restricted emergency use in the country, official sources said on Tuesday.
The approval comes a day after Sinopharm said its vaccine showed 79.34 per cent efficacy and a 99.52 per cent antibody-positive conversion rate in the interim results of the Phase III clinical trials.
The sources said all stakeholders will have to work together to adjust the schedules as required and the pandemic can only be dealt collectively by such cooperation.
India has airlifted more than 6 million COVID-19 doses to nine countries in Phase-I under its initiative termed "Vaccine Maitri".
This is an important milestone that paves the way for bringing the company's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to the people of India, and the rest of the world, through a collaboration with Biological E Limited, the statement added.
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