Tightrope walk

As it battles a resurgent virus, India needs to balance its global commitment and home requirement of Covid-19 vaccines

- REKHA DIXIT

Vaccine management is becoming a fine balancing act for India. Having sold itself as the ‘vaccinator of the world’ and launching the high-optic Vaccine Maitri diplomatic outreach to underscore its position as the global leader at the forefront of the Covid-19 management, India now has to reckon with a ferocious second wave of infections back home that a sluggish vaccination programme can do little to mitigate.

Already, the western media is making caustic observations on India reneging its commitments. Serum Institute of India, which is producing the Oxford University and AstraZeneca-developed Covishield, has delayed supplies to the COVAX programme—an initiative of the World Health Organization, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund to provide free vaccines to low-income and middle-income economies—as domestic requirements take priority. Though supplies should be back to normal by May, says GAVI, the delay has dented India’s image, especially in Africa, where the reliance on COVAX is near-total. Director of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Dr John Nkengasong said he felt “helpless” about this development. Given that production from South Korea, another country contracted to manufacture the same vaccine, too, did not meet expectation, vaccination drives have slowed down in several countries.