Nation to resume vaccine exports

India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, will resume exports and donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines in October after halting them during a devastating surge in domestic infections in April, the health minister said Monday.

Mansukh Mandaviya said the surplus vaccines will be used to fulfill India’s “commitment towards the world for the collective fight against COVID-19,” but vaccinating Indians will remain the government’s “topmost priority.”

India was expected to be a key supplier for the world and for the U.N.-backed initiative aimed at vaccine equity known as COVAX. It began exporting doses in January but stopped doing so to inoculate its own population during a sharp surge in infections in April that pushed India’s health system to the breaking point.

The halt in exports left many developing countries without adequate supplies and delayed vaccines for millions of people.

A country of nearly 1.4 billion people, India has administered more than 800 million vaccine doses. It has given at least one dose to more than 62% of the eligible adult population and two doses to about 22%.