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India has bought 1.6 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, which is more than any other country, according to a global analysis.
Using its enormous manufacturing influence, the country purchased 500 million doses of the candidate vaccine from the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca, 1 billion doses from the American firm Novavax and 100 million doses of the candidate Sputnik V from the Research Institute. Gamaleya from Russia, the United States-based Duke University said. Center for Innovation in Global Health.
India, a middle-income country, bought more doses than high-income countries like the United States and Britain, and more than the European Union as a whole, all of which have vaccine development capabilities in the country.
The EU has pre-reserved 1.58 billion doses and the United States bought 1.01 billion doses.
Even before regulators approved the candidate vaccines, purchases of 7.3 billion doses were confirmed, and another 2.5 billion doses are under negotiation.
“Many of these countries will be able to vaccinate their entire population, and some will be able to do it many times, before billions of people are vaccinated in low-income countries,” the Duke report said.
India’s 1.6 billion doses would cover 800 million people, or 60 percent of its population.
Last month, Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that an estimated 400-500 million doses will be made available to 250-300 million people across the country by July-August next year.
The Duke report said rich countries negotiated purchases by investing public funds in vaccine research and development and using their purchasing power to strike initial deals. Countries hedged their bets by purchasing multiple candidate vaccines, in case some don’t materialize.
As a middle-income country, India has been able to move to the front of the queue using another strategy: leveraging its large manufacturing infrastructure.
“Countries with manufacturing capacity, such as India and Brazil, have managed to negotiate large upfront market commitments with leading vaccine candidates as part of manufacturing agreements,” said the Duke report, which was compiled after officials Governments around the world, including India – were consulted to explain their high procurement strategy.
India is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, accounting for 60 percent of the world’s supply.
It is also home to the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest producer of vaccines.
Of the three candidate vaccines the South Asian country has booked, SII manufactures two in India: the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and the Novavax candidate.
Of the 3.73 billion doses of Oxford and Novavax vaccines purchased by all countries, IBS will produce about three billion.
Dr. Reddy’s laboratory in Hyderabad also makes Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
The two national vaccine candidates from India have also received approval to enter Phase 3 of their clinical trials.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Gujarat-based Zydus-Cadila “could also add about 400 million doses a year,” said virologist Shahid Jameel, director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences at the University of Ashoka, to the Press Trust of India.
Over the weekend, Pfizer sought an emergency use authorization in India, followed by Astra Zeneca’s Covishield vaccine, which is being manufactured in India for IBS.
Federal Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press conference yesterday that India’s Bharat Biotech has also applied for emergency use authorization for its vaccine, Covaxin. He added that some vaccine candidates may be licensed in the coming weeks.
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