India set to resume its vaccine exports

NEW DELHI » India’s health minister announced Monday that the country will restart vaccine exports from October, giving a major boost to strained global vaccine supplies.

India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, had been expected to play a huge role in getting the shots to the rest of the world, but then it halted all exports to deal with its own crushing coronavirus wave earlier this year.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told reporters that vaccine production is likely to increase in the coming weeks. After fulfilling the country’s domestic requirements, Mandaviya said, excess supplies will be exported next month under the Vaccine Maitri or Friendship program. “We will help the world and fulfill our responsibility to Covax,” he said.

New vaccines were also likely to be approved, he said, which would augment the supply.

The minister said that the country’s vaccine production has more than doubled since April and was likely to quadruple to reach 300 million doses next month, reported New Delhi Television. It is not clear yet how many doses will be exported at first.

In April, India had halted vaccine exports and donations to expand its own vaccine program amid a devastating second wave that at its peaks registered more than 400,000 daily cases. Now, cases have fallen to just around 30,000 a day and its vaccine drive has gathered momentum.

India’s announcement is expected to come as a relief for Covax, the international vaccine distribution effort that had faced an immediate 90 million dose shortfall in April after exports were halted.

Health officials in India had called it a temporary restriction that would be resolved within weeks.