see url:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-vaccine-shortages/2021/04/09/012346ec-98eb-11eb-8f0a-3384cf4fb399_story.html
see full report...It is a fact of life that the more the virus spreads
throughout the world and in each individual country, the more room the
virus has in which to spread and mutate. So, the more vaccinations and
the quicker they take place amongst the wold population and the more
serum available to counteract the virus...the more it is limited from
changing and spreading. That is why nation states should be helping
each other, not only in producing the virus, but in distributing it, and
doing it for nothing in those countries which can't afford it, and
helping fund their efforts to distribute it...
Quote<<<
As India grapples with a rising tide of coronavirus infections, people
arriving at vaccination centers in some parts of the country are being
told there are no shots available.
On Friday, dozens of hospitals in Mumbai, India’s financial capital,
halted vaccinations because their supplies ran out, according to a list
prepared by the municipal authority.
If no additional supplies are received, the city’s vaccinations will
completely stop on Saturday, said Kishori Pednekar, Mumbai’s mayor. “We
are anxious,” she said. “To stop the second wave, we need this.”
Several Indian states have reported dwindling vaccine inventories in
recent days. In the eastern state of Odisha, authorities temporarily
shuttered 700 vaccination centers — half the total — due to a lack of
supplies, said P.K. Mohapatra, the state’s health secretary.
“We have a shortage of vaccines,” he said Friday, adding that he was not
aware of when fresh stocks would arrive. “Whatever is available will
last until tomorrow.”
The reports of vaccine shortages come as India is facing record numbers
of coronavirus infections. On Thursday, the country added more than
130,000 cases, a high in the pandemic.
Massive second wave of infections is emerging in India, pitting the
virus against the vaccine rollout
Experts believe that a lack of social distancing, waning natural
immunity and new variants of the virus — including a “double-mutant”
variety first found in India — are behind a second wave of infections
raging across the country.
To counter the surge, India opened up its vaccination drive at the start
of April to everyone over the age of 45, vastly expanding the pool of
people eligible for the vaccine.
The central government in New Delhi says there is no shortage of
supplies and has accused state authorities of mismanaging the situation.
Harsh Vardhan, the health minister, called talk of shortages “fear
mongering” and said more than 40 million doses were in stock or nearing
delivery to states.
That India could face a supply crunch comes as a surprise: It is home to
the Serum Institute of India, one of the world’s largest vaccine makers,
which has a partnership to manufacture the vaccine jointly developed by
AstraZeneca and Oxford University. More than 90 million vaccine doses
have been administered in India, the vast majority of them made by
Serum. India has also exported more than 64 million doses.
In recent weeks, however, worries about a mismatch between supply and
demand have grown. India put the brakes on vaccine exports as infections
increased. V.K. Paul, a senior health official, said in an interview on
March 31 that a “delicate balance” was required and that India hoped to
resume exports within weeks.
India is giving away millions of coronavirus vaccine doses as a tool of
diplomacy
Paul said the Serum Institute is producing about 60 million doses of the
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine a month and that Bharat Biotech, another
Indian firm, is producing 10 million doses a month of a locally
developed vaccine called Covaxin. India is currently vaccinating more
than 3 million people a day on average.
>>>End of Quote
