India, one of the world’s biggest vaccine producers, has imposed a de facto ban on jab exports as it seeks to prioritise local vaccinations amid an accelerating second wave of coronavirus infections. The Serum Institute of India, the largest manufacturer of vaccines in the world and the biggest supplier to the international Covax programme, has been told to halt exports and that the measures could last as long as two to three months, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Gavi, the UN-backed international vaccine alliance, immediately warned that the controls would have a direct impact on the Covax scheme, set up with the World Health Organization to ensure the equitable global distribution of at least 2bn Covid-19 vaccine doses in 2021. “Deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines to lower-income economies participating in the Covax facility will face delays following a setback in securing export licences for further doses . . . produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) expected to be shipped in March and April,” Gavi said in a statement.
News of the controls — which are likely to also affect the shipment of at least 5m doses to the UK — came as EU leaders prepared for talks on Thursday on their own proposed export curbs. The EU, like India, is a major vaccine production hub and has already exported millions of doses while its own coronavirus vaccination programme has lagged behind.
Faced with another wave of infections, the EU and India are under domestic pressure to secure local supplies, but international public health officials have warned that export controls risk doing more damage in the long run. “There is absolutely no need, absolutely no need for us as humanity to go into a vaccine war to fight this pandemic. We will all be losers,” said John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Africa is heavily dependent on receiving vaccines from the Covax