Amidst the various reports of the Centre and the state governments tussling regarding the shortage of supply of the Covid vaccine. A new report suggests that India is the largest buyer of the Covid vaccine in the world.
India Pre Booked Over A Billion Covid Vaccines
As per recent analysis by the US based Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Centre, India has already pre ordered 500 million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine. India has also pre booked one billion from the US Company Novavax which will be made at the Serum Insititute of India in Pune and 100 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
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As per the reports, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has announced that there will be a delay in the launch of Covovax.
Covovax is being jointly developed by SII and Novavax and is expected to be launched in September.
SII CEO Adar Poonawalla took to twitter last month to announce that the new vaccine has been tested against the African and the UK variants of coronavirus. And it shows the efficacy of 89%.
He further said that they are hoping to launch the vaccine by September this year.
Some reports suggest that Poonawalla has reportedly said that the US has temporarily banned the export of some important raw materials. This would further limit the production of Novavax.
Novavax Is Expected To Vaccinate 60 Percent of Indian Population
As per the experts, developing of vaccines like Novavax would fasten the process of vaccinations and would soon vaccinate almost 60 per cent of the Indian population.
The Duke researchers said in their analysis that with vaccine production power like India and Brazil, they have been able to negotiate the procurement of vaccines in advance.
Global analysis suggests that India is followed by the European Union and the US in buying vaccines.
Currently, India is witnessing a huge surge in the Covid 19 cases with its second wave. The country recorded 1,26,789 Covid 19 cases on Thursday.
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The SII is aiming to expand its production capacity by April end or early May this year. The current production stands at 7 crore doses a month and they plan to expand by another 4-5 crores.
India is also the 4th worst hit country in the world in terms of active covid cases. But, so far, 9,01,98,673 people have been vaccinated.
