One beneficiary is vaccinated by medical staff during a pan-India Covid-19 vaccination action at Aundh District Hospital on January 16, 2021 in Pune, India.
Pratham Gokhale | Hindustan Times | Getty Images
India has reported more than 100,000 new cases of Covid-19 over a 24-hour period for the third time this week, as South Asia’s most populous country moves forward with its vaccination campaign.
According to government data, 126,789 new cases were reported on Thursday. Over 80% of these cases were from ten states, including the western state of Maharashtra, which hosts India’s financial capital, Mumbai.
Since the beginning of April, India has reported more than 779,000 cases, with Maharashtra accounting for just over half of them.
Local authorities in Maharashtra have tightened restrictions, including nightcaps where only essential services are allowed to remain open. Other states are also stepping up preventive restrictions, as concerns grow over the potential shortage of hospital beds and doctors.
Lack of vaccine
India’s mass inoculation campaign, which began in January, has accelerated in recent weeks. From April, anyone over the age of 45 is eligible for their photos. Government data show that more than 90 million doses of the vaccine have been administered since Thursday.
But media reports this week said several states, including Maharashtra, had warned that they would run out of vaccine at a crucial time when cases are growing rapidly.
In response, the Indian government accused some states, including Maharashtra, of diverting attention from their failure to control the outbreak of the virus.
“The supply of vaccines is being monitored in real time, and state governments are regularly informed about it,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday. “The allegations of lack of vaccines are completely unfounded.”
Adequate distribution is required
India manufactures enough vaccines a month to inoculate people over the age of 45, according to Randeep Guleria, director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and a member of the Indian government’s Covid-19 working group.
“These vaccines are manufactured and there is enough monthly stock. It’s an issue that needs to be distributed regularly in all areas, and as states begin to distribute, they need to ensure that there is fair distribution based on demand, “Guleria told CNBC’s” Street Signs Asia “on Thursday.
“As for the real numbers, if you do (math), the lack doesn’t exist, the distribution has to be done in an appropriate way,” he said.
Guleria added that the situation in Maharashtra, as well as in some other states, is such that some areas have a high absorption of vaccines, and in others there is a vacancy and stocks.
Serum Institute’s “stressed” production capacity
But the Indian Serum Institute, which makes one of the country’s two approved vaccines – AstraZeneca’s shot, known locally as Covishield – has a different view of things.
Serum Institute chief Adar Poonawalla told Indian media that the company’s production capacity was “very stressed”. He said the vaccine maker needs about $ 400 million to increase capacity by June.
He revealed to Business Standard that AstraZeneca had sent a Serum Institute a legal notice for delays in delivering vaccines abroad. In February, Poonawalla said his company had been given priority over vaccine needs in India and urged foreign governments to be patient.
Guleria said other vaccine-producing producers are being exploited to introduce and help intensify production. He added that India could soon approve a third vaccine – Sputnik V, made in Russia, which will be produced by the pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.