Omicron Threat: India may supply Covid-19 vaccine doses to African Countries
New Delhi: The Government of India may come forward to help the African countries by providing more covid-19 vaccine doses as new covid-19 variant ‘Omicron’ surges there. As countries tighten travel protocols once again, the central government is looking to export a significant portion of Covid-19 vaccines to Africa.
According to the sources the government is already in talks with indigenous vaccine manufacturers regarding vaccine supplies to Africa.
The ministry of external affairs had tweeted on Tuesday, “India stands ready to support the countries affected in Africa in dealing with the Omnicron Variant, including by supplies of Made-in-India vaccines. Supplies can be undertaken through COVAX or bilaterally.” Supplies have already been cleared for countries such as Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Guinea, and Lesotho.
The Centre recently approved the export of the Covid-19 vaccine in view of sufficient stock available with the states.
According to a media report, South Africa – where the new strain B.1.1.529 or omicron was first detected, is only 25 percent vaccinated against Covid-19. Only 7 percent of Africa is inoculated, and there are a few countries in the continent where not even 5 percent of the population has received a Covid-19 vaccine.
Bharat Biotech may export 108 lakh doses of Covaxin commercially to eight countries — Paraguay, Botswana, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Cameroon, and United Arab Emirates, and Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), too, was allowed to export 5 million doses of Covishield to the WHO-led vaccine initiative Covax, including to African countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Guinea, and Lesotho. Hyderabad-based vaccine maker Bharat Biotech is not a part of the Covax initiative yet.
Serum Institute has a capacity to produce over 200 million doses of Covishield per month and Bharat Biotech could produce 80 million doses in December.
This came soon after Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to supply another 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to African countries.
(_Vinayak)
