Will India’s Covid 19 Vaccine Exports Be Curbed?

It appears that there may have arrived a bit of a dampener in India in what has clearly been an instrumental year given how the country developed an effective antidote to fight the ongoing and widespread COVID 19 saga. It is already a well-established fact that the Covaxin, the go-to vaccine in the current Indian market to counter the daunting challenge of the Coronavirus, has reached a significant global footprint.

Not long after the revered medical body Indian Council of Medical Research helped Bharat Biotech to develop the Covaxin that the vaccine’s exports surged to different parts of the globe. As on date, India has already exported no fewer than 5.84 crore doses of the said vaccine to, at least, 70 countries.

So amid these promising times that have fueled a significant rise in commerce associated with the vaccine’s exports and, in turn, quelled the search of many a world’s nation toward finding an effective antidote to the morose that is the COVID 19 virus, what seems to be ailing India?

Why are there media reports that suggest the fact that India’s export of the vaccine to fight COVID 19 may be curbed? What is the matter? Could the curb to international territories be linked to India’s own fight against the COVID 19 virus (within)?

Truth be told, it’s believed that a fresh surge in the Coronavirus cases in the country and the subsequent roll-out of the vaccine (to those aged above 45, April 1 onwards) may finally see a change in the export strategy of the country.

The government has hinted, in lines with this concern, that it may need to ‘calibrate its supply schedules’ to other countries.

Though, that said, what must be noted that in lines with this foreseeable change in the plans, the government is not planning a ‘full ban’ on the exports of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, here is what The Hindu had to say in its reportage on the trending story from the heart of India:

According to Global vaccine alliance GAVI, which runs the COVAX programme, Indian vaccine supplies to lower income countries are being delayed “as the Government of India battles a new wave of COVID-19 infections”.

A statement from GAVI said that while it had receive 28 million Covishield doses from the Serum Institute of India (SII), it was unclear about additional supplies of 40 million in March and 50 million in April, and was in talks with the government and SII over the issue.

Essentially speaking, the export of the COVID 19 vaccines from India will now be made only after taking stock of the domestic situation in the country. And one notes it’s only fair that one caters to the requirement on the home front instead of being solely focused on exports at this point in time. The supplies to other countries, therefore, will be made in a phased manner.

This decision comes at a time where several countries including the United Kingdom, Nepal, Saudi Arabia have shared that they expect a delay in the arrival of the India-made COVID 19 vaccine.

It must be duly noted that from the onset of January 20 this year, India has exported in excess of 60 million dozes of the vaccine to other countries. Several nations, as a matter of fact, have acknowledged and widely appreciated India’s timely intervention by way of the export of the vaccines, such as- South Africa, Brazil, among several nations.