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New Delhi: For months, developed economies have hoarded Covid-19 vaccines and the raw materials needed to make them. Now, they’re being forced to act as an explosive outbreak in India raises the risk of new virus mutations that could threaten the wider world.
Under mounting criticism for dominating vaccine resources, the U.S. said this week that it will help India by sending items needed to manufacture vaccines as part of an aid package. European countries are also pledging help as new cases in the South Asian country smash world records. President Joe Biden’s administration is separately vowing to share its stockpile of AstraZeneca Plc vaccines which the U.S. hasn’t even approved for use and meeting with drug companies about boosting supply and waiving intellectual property protections on Covid-19 shots, a shift India and South Africa have been pushing for.
Apr 28, 2021
For months, developed economies have hoarded COVID-19 vaccines and the raw materials needed to make them. Now, they’re being forced to act as an explosive outbreak in India raises the risk of new virus mutations that could threaten the wider world.
Under mounting criticism for dominating vaccine resources, the U.S. said this week that it will help India by sending items needed to manufacture vaccines as part of an aid package. European countries are also pledging help as new cases in the South Asian country smash world records. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is separately vowing to share its stockpile of AstraZeneca PLC vaccines which the U.S. hasn’t even approved for use and meeting with drug companies about boosting supply and waiving intellectual property protections on COVID-19 shots, a shift India and South Africa have been pushing for.
Vaccine Hoarding May Backfire On Nations As India s Surge Threatens World ndtv.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ndtv.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Government s New Vaccine Strategy Is Bad Economics Government s New Vaccine Strategy Is Bad Economics
Updated: April 27, 2021 9:36 am IST
After a tightly centralized vaccination drive that has delivered the required two shots to less than 2% of the population, India is opening up its inoculation strategy in the middle of a raging pandemic. Can the new approach flatten the curve?
Expanding the campaign to all adults below 45 starting next month is a late but welcome move. India s daily infection rate of almost 350,000 is the worst any country has experienced. Even then, shifting a big part of the financial burden to 28 state governments and letting private hospitals buy shots at 600 to 1200 rupees ($8 to $16) apiece - and sell them to patients at even higher prices - are both wrong.
Synopsis
After the current spike has peaked, people will still need to be inoculated at a rapid pace to flatten the curve and avert a third buildup. And that’s when the folly of charging Rs 600 or Rs 1,200 for a life-saving vaccine, in a country where the working class was struggling to buy Rs 5 biscuits even before the pandemic, may become clear.
A vaccine queue in Mumbai. The world’s biggest democracy can’t shut anyone out of the market for vaccines.
After a tightly centralised vaccination drive that has delivered the required two shots to less than 2% of the population, India is opening up its inoculation strategy in the middle of a raging pandemic. Can the new approach flatten the curve?