Covid-19 roundup: India halts AstraZeneca vaccine exports as in-country cases rise — report
As the number of positive Covid-19 cases rises in the country, India is temporarily holding on exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Reuters reported.
The vaccine is being produced by the Serum Institute of India, which is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. There have been no vaccine exports from India since last Thursday.
That will limit the supply of vaccines to the World Health Organization’s COVAX vaccine-sharing facility, which has received 17.7 million of the 60.5 million doses the country has exported, Reuters said. COVAX has a deal to buy 1.1 billion doses of the AstraZeneca and Novavax shots.
India has the third-highest number of positive Covid-19 cases in the world, behind the United States and Brazil. However, its number of cases per 100,000 people — 863 — is drastically lower than those two countries: 9,143 and 5,790 respectively.
As of now, only those above the age of 60 and over 45 with health conditions are eligible for the vaccine in India, aside from healthcare and frontline workers.
Of the 51 million vaccine doses administered in India so far, 47 million of them have been the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute.
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