India has put a temporary hold on all major exports of the CovidShield (AstraZeneca) coronavirus vaccine developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine-maker, to meet domestic demand as infections rise, Reuters reports.
With this, since Thursday, there have been no vaccine exports from India as the country expands its own immunisation effort.
“Everything else has taken a backseat, for the time being at least,” Reuters reported, citing an anonymous source with direct knowledge of the matter. “No exports, nothing till the time the India situation stabilises. The government won’t take such a big chance at the moment when so many need to be vaccinated in India.”
India’s foreign ministry and the SII did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
According to Reuters, such suspension of the exports will also affect supplies to the GAVI/WHO-backed COVAX vaccine-sharing facility through which more than 180 countries are expected to get doses. Importantly, COVAX has so far received 17.7 million AstraZeneca doses from the SII, of the 60.5 million doses India has shipped in total, and many countries, including Ukraine. are relying on the programme to immunise their citizens.
With 11.7 million cases, India has reported the highest number of coronavirus infections after the United States and Brazil. Currently, only the elderly and those over 45 with other health conditions are eligible for vaccinations in India. Health and frontline workers were first in line when India began its drive in mid-January.