Virus surge in India affecting world vaccine supply

NEW DELHI: India is experiencing a major surge in COVID -19 cases, which is seen as alarming because the country is a major vaccine producer and a critical supplier to the United Nations backed COVAX initiative. Experts believe that missteps stemming from the belief that the pandemic was over is now haunting the country.

Many metropolises like Pune, Mumbai, Indore, Delhi are in major crisis, as daily infections hit record level every passing day. Many countries in Europe that experienced decline in cases earlier are also now seeing infection rates climbing, partially because of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2.

India’s COVAX initiative was launched to provide shots to some of the world’s poorest countries, but the sudden and sharp rise in infection in India has forced its focus on domestic demand, and therefore, deliveries to other countries have been delayed.

India entered the third day of ‘Tika Utsav’ today, and according to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as many as 10.85 crore people have been administered at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine so far.