The World Health Organization’s Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan has said that India’s ban on the export of coronavirus vaccines had a s...
The World Health Organization’s Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan has said that India’s ban on the export of coronavirus vaccines had a severe impact on 91 countries, reported NDTV.
“Ninety one countries are impacted by the shortage of supplies, particularly since the AstraZeneca parent company has not been able to compensate for the doses which have not come from Serum [Insitute of India],” Swaminathan said in an interview, adding that these countries were vulnerable to the new, more transmissible strains, including the B.1.617.2 coronavirus variant first found in India.
“Not just B.1.617.2, but other variants will emerge in other countries and spread around the world...” she told NDTV. “We know that these variants spread very quickly. Even before they can be recognised, they are already spreading around the world. The same thing happened with the 117 [variant], now dominant.”
Under the agreement with AstraZeneca, made in 2020, the Serum Institute was expected to provide a billion doses to countries with low and middle income, according to NDTV. In 2020 alone, the Indian vaccine manufacturer was supposed to provide 400 million shots. Their delivery was carried out through Gavi, the global alliance for vaccines.
Swaminathan said that most African countries had not only vaccinated under 0.5% of their population but had also...
