NEW DELHI (AP) – India said Tuesday it will approve the use of any coronavirus vaccines that have received an emergency nod from the World Health Organization or regulators in the United States, Europe, Britain or Japan.
India’s Ministry of Health said the decision was aimed at speeding up the use of shots made in other countries and expanding the “basket of vaccines” available for domestic use. The country of nearly 1.4 billion people is seeing a crippling wave of infections threatening to overwhelm hospitals in hard-hit cities.
The only way out of the crisis, experts say, is to vaccinate more people.
But this has global implications, as India is a major vaccine producer and India’s domestic needs have slowed the delivery of injections to the UN-backed COVAX initiative, which aims to distribute vaccines equitably.
India had previously nodded to the AstraZeneca vaccine made by Serum Institute of India and another made by the Indian company Bharat Biotech.
Now vaccines approved for emergency use by regulators in the US, Europe, UK, Japan or the World Health Organization can be used in India. The Health Ministry also said on Tuesday that Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine had been green-lit for emergency use.
The Ministry of Health said safety will be checked on the first 100 people who receive these shots before expanding their use to others.
Dr. Shahid Jameel, who studies viruses at Ashoka University in India, said that while the move is unlikely to help the country cope with the wave it is currently experiencing, it would aid in the availability of vaccines in the future, triggering the release of vaccines. which could then be exported.
He said this would pave the way for India to use vaccines made by companies with a manufacturing partner in India. For example, vaccine manufacturer Biological E Ltd has been contracted to make Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine.
Jameel added that this could potentially open the market for vaccines that require ultra-cold storage facilities to be sold in cities where such facilities are available. Vaccine prices in India are currently capped at 250 rupees or $ 3.30. This also frees the government to subsidize the vaccines for the poor, while they can afford to buy more expensive vaccines.
Russia has agreements with five Indian pharmaceutical companies to make more than 850 million doses of Sputnik V vaccines in India for the world. It also signed a deal with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to conduct late studies and distribute up to 250 million doses in India.
But with four of Russia’s five deals in March and April, the doses are likely to be delivered later in the year. In addition, Russia’s first manufacturing agreement with India was with Hetero Biopharma for 100 million doses – but it’s unclear whether it has started making doses. Hetero Biopharma did not respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.
The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.