India may resume vaccine exports soon

Shipments halted in April to inoculate own population

India is considering resuming exports of Covid-19 vaccines soon, mainly to Africa, as it has partly immunised a majority of its adults and supplies have surged, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

India, the world’s biggest maker of vaccines overall, stopped vaccine exports in April to focus on inoculating its own population as infections exploded.

The government wants to vaccinate all of its 944 million adults by December and has so far given at least one dose to 61 per cent of them.

WHO in talks with India

The resumption of exports deliberations come ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington next week where vaccines are likely to be discussed at a summit of the leaders of the Quad countries — the US, India, Japan and Australia.

“The export decision is a done deal,” said the source, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media on the matter. “India wants to help out Africa with both vaccines and its Covid operational model.” India’s Ministry of External Affairs, one of whose senior officials met with the chief of the World Health Organisation on Monday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The ministry coordinates India’s vaccine exports.

The WHO said on Tuesday it was in a constant dialogue with Indian officials to resume supplies to global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX. “We have been assured that supply will restart this year,” senior WHO official Bruce Aylward said in a briefing.

“We are hoping we can get an assurance it can start even faster than later this year, and in the coming weeks.” Before India stopped exports, it donated or sold 66 million doses to nearly 100 countries.