{"id":106898,"date":"2021-05-15T09:47:49","date_gmt":"2021-05-15T04:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=106898"},"modified":"2021-05-15T09:49:03","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T04:19:03","slug":"indias-vaccine-exports-are-guided-by-good-diplomacy-and-good-epidemiology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-vaccine-exports-are-guided-by-good-diplomacy-and-good-epidemiology\/","title":{"rendered":"India&#8217;s Vaccine exports are guided by good diplomacy and good epidemiology"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><\/h5>\n<h5><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The vaccine exports by India have not obstructed its efforts in tackling the Covid-19 outbreak. Rather it is a strategy guided by good diplomacy, good economics and good epidemiology. That is immensely beneficial for the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As of May 11, India exported 663.698 lakh vaccine doses to foreign countries. Out of this, 16% was sent as aid, 54% as commercial supplies and 30% as part of WHO\u2019s COVAX program.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These exports have drawn criticism from various experts. As they believe that <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-questions-surrounding-covid-vaccine-exports-by-india\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">exports are creating vaccine shortages<\/a> in India. However, there exist multiple reasons which induced the government to export vaccines.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Reasons behind vaccine exports<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Firstly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, out of the 107.15 lakh doses sent as aid, 78.5 lakh doses (73.26 per cent) have been sent to just <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">seven neighbouring countries<\/span>. This is <\/span><b>good epidemiology.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> As it is essential to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">vaccinate India\u2019s immediate neighbours for its own pandemic control<\/span> measures.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Secondly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, approximately 14% of<a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/intellectual-property-rightsipr-and-universal-vaccination-explained-pointwise\/#Intellectual_Property_Rights_exemptions_under_WTO_and_TRIPS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> commercial supplies are sent to the U.K.<\/a> India <\/span><b>not only has a legal duty but also a moral duty<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to supply the vaccine. As the Covishield vaccine is manufactured by India based on a licence granted by Oxford &#8211; AstraZeneca partnership.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Thirdly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/un-peacekeeping-forces\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">two lakh doses are sent as aid to the UN peacekeeping force<\/a>. This will help in the <\/span><b>vaccination of 6600 Indians deployed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> there. Similarly, 12.5% of commercial supplies are sent to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia possesses a large Indian diaspora.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fourthly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, there is <\/span><b>an international obligation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to supply the vaccines under <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/covax-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">COVAX initiative<\/a> of WHO.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The COVAX program aims to ensure rapid, fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all the countries around the world.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being a participant, India is <\/span><b>itself entitled to receive nearly 97 million doses<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of Covishield through the COVAX facility at affordable prices.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fifthly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, vaccine production requires imports of various inputs from multiple countries that are part of the complex supply chain network. Hence, the suppliers of raw materials will also deserve some portion of the final product.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is why India&#8217;s vaccine exports are considered as <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">good diplomacy, good economics and good epidemiology.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><strong>Various steps to enhance vaccine availability in India:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The government has provided support of approximately <strong>Rs 200 crore to boost vaccine production<\/strong>. This will help to improve the current manufacturing rate of Covaxin by 10 times in the coming months. Currently, 10 million doses are produced in a month.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The government has also provided <strong>special regulatory dispensation. <\/strong>This allows\u00a0emergency use authorisation of foreign-made Covid-19 vaccines. This facility will be available only for Covid-19 vaccines approved for emergency use by credible foreign regulators.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Going forward, India can make an open commitment to supply a certain percentage of production as commercial\/COVAX exports. This allows other countries to plan and execute their own vaccination drives. Further, it will be in consonance with good diplomacy, good economics and good epidemiology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/india-second-wave-covid-19-pandemic-vaccine-exported-modi-govt-7314174\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Indian Express<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: The vaccine exports by India have not obstructed its efforts in tackling the Covid-19 outbreak. Rather it is a strategy guided by good diplomacy, good economics and good epidemiology. That is immensely beneficial for the country.\u00a0 Background: As of May 11, India exported 663.698 lakh vaccine doses to foreign countries. Out of this, 16%&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-vaccine-exports-are-guided-by-good-diplomacy-and-good-epidemiology\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">India&#8217;s Vaccine exports are guided by good diplomacy and good epidemiology<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,8043,1351,1310,9],"tags":[1474,1333,1472],"class_list":["post-106898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-current-affairs-cat","category-daily-news","category-daily-news-updates","category-public","tag-foreign_policy_india","tag-ir_0","tag-vaccine_related_issues","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704832823},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}