While India has gradually resumed the export of Covid-19 vaccines to help neighbouring countries, international vaccine alliance Gavi is still waiting for its turn to receive the vaccine supplies it ordered from Covishield maker, the Serum Institute of India.
The Pune-based vaccine maker has been allowed to send Covid-19 vaccine shots to Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The company has also been allowed to supply Covishield vaccines in bulk — around 3 crore doses — to AstraZeneca, which developed the vaccine along with Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
However, the decision to start exports for global vaccine-sharing platform Covax is still awaited. The COVAX programme is sponsored by the Gavi vaccine alliance along with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Gavi itself is a United Nations-backed organisation that coordinates vaccinations across the world.
Speaking to News18.com, a Gavi spokesperson said that the organisation is in talks with both the government and the SII to get the exports going quickly again.
“We are in talks with both the Government of India and SII about the resumption of exports to COVAX, with a view to getting deliveries moving as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said in an email.
According to an industry source privy to the developments, SII is awaiting the government’s nod to resume exports for COVAX.
“As far as India’s vaccine stock is concerned, the country is now in a comfortable position to start exports. The go-ahead from the government is awaited, but it may only come by the end of October when they will have fresh data on available stock and expected stock in hand.”
While the SII refused to comment on the matter, a senior government official from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the exports to COVAX are “top priority”.
“We believe by November-December, we will have excess stock available that can be exported. You will hear back from us very soon,” the official said. “While the nation remains the first priority, we will start exporting as soon as we will be in line with our mission to inoculate the majority of India by the year-end,” he added.
The pact signed between SII and COVAX specified that Gavi would receive 1.1 billion doses of either the AstraZeneca vaccine or the Novavax shot, with 200 million committed, and the rest on option.
Delay in Exports Since March
COVAX was launched in April 2020 by Gavi, the WHO, the European Commission and France with the objective of distributing Covid-19 vaccines to lower and middle-income countries.
Till March 25, COVAX had been supplied with 28 million Covishield doses and was expecting an additional 40 million doses to be available in March, and up to 50 million doses in April.
“COVAX has notified all affected economies of potential delays. SII has pledged that, alongside supplying India, it will prioritise the COVAX multilateral solution for equitable distribution,” COVAX had said while announcing the delay in March.
In September, chief executive officer of the Geneva-headquartered Gavi, Dr Seth Berkley, told News18.com that he “genuinely believes” India will resume vaccine exports soon. Seth said if anything is holding COVAX back it is “access to more doses” and Gavi “invested over a billion dollars” in India because of its vaccine production capacity.
“Now that the domestic production has been successfully ramped up and India’s outbreak has lessened in intensity, it is our genuine belief that health security within India as well as globally would be better served by a resumption of exports of India-made vaccines to Covax alongside its national rollout so that we can protect as many vulnerable people as possible,” Berkeley had said.
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