The Indian Panorama

Tag: GAVI

  • US V-P Harris speaks with PM Modi, assures Covid vaccines to India

    US V-P Harris speaks with PM Modi, assures Covid vaccines to India

    Some of 6 million doses for ‘surge’ nations to be shipped to India

    WASHINGTON (TIP): US Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday, June 3, spokewith India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and three other world leaders and informed them that the US will begin sharing the first 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to their respective countries.

    Harris and PM Modi further discussed strengthening efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The call was initiated by the American side, top government sources said. During the call, Harris stressed the Joe Biden administration’s efforts to ‘achieve broad global coverage, responding to surges and other urgent situations ad public health needs and helping as many countries as possible who requested vaccines’, according to Senior White House Advisor and Chief Spokesperson Symone Sanders.

    Thanking Harris, PM Modi tweeted, “I deeply appreciate the assurance of vaccine supplies to India as part of the US Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing. I also thanked her for the all the support and solidarity from the US government, businesses and Indian diaspora.” Modi and Harris also discussed ongoing efforts to further strengthen India-US vaccine cooperation, “and the potential of our partnership to contribute to post-Covid global health and economic recovery”, added the prime minister in his tweet.

    The prime minister also expressed the hope to welcome Harris in India ‘soon after the normalization of the global health situation’. Also Read – Uyghur exiles describe forced abortions, torture in Xinjiang Apart from Modi, Harris also dialed President Andres Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, President Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala, and Prime Minister Keith Rowley, Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). “The Vice President notified each of the leaders that the Biden-Harris Administration will begin sharing the rest 25 million doses of COVID vaccines to their respective countries and others, as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s framework for sharing at least 80 million vaccines globally by the end of June,” the White House said in a statement.

    US President Joe Biden on Thursday, June 3, announced his plans to allocate 75 per cent – nearly 19 million of the first tranche of 25 million doses – of unused COVID-19 vaccines through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa. In a statement, President Biden provided details on how the US will allocate the first 25 million of the vaccines to lay the ground for increased global coverage and to address real and potential surges, high burdens of disease, and the needs of the most vulnerable countries. “At least 75 percent of these doses – nearly 19 million- will be shared through COVAX, including approximately 6 million doses for Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately 7 million for South and Southeast Asia, and approximately 5 million for Africa,” Biden said. “The remaining doses, just over 6 million, will be shared directly with countries experiencing surges, those in crisis, and other partners and neighbors, including Canada, Mexico, India, and the Republic of Korea, he said.

    The Biden administration had been under pressure to send the excess COVID-19 vaccines with the US to nations like India, which are facing severe vaccine shortages. “We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions. We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic… And we will continue to follow the science and to work in close cooperation with our democratic partners to coordinate a multilateral effort, including through the G7, Biden added. COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organisation.

    President Biden on May 17 had said the US will share 20 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses with other countries, taking the total number of such shots to 80 million. Ten million is equal to one crore. The additional 20 million doses will be of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, on top of 60 million AstraZeneca Plc doses he had already planned to give to other countries. Biden said the United States “also recognize that ending this pandemic means ending it everywhere. As long as this pandemic is raging anywhere in the world, the American people will still be vulnerable. And the United States is committed to bringing the same urgency to international vaccination efforts that we have demonstrated at home.

    (Agencies)

  • Shortfall of 190 million doses by June as Covid surge in India affected supply: Covax

    Shortfall of 190 million doses by June as Covid surge in India affected supply: Covax

    United Nations (TIP): The “terrible” surge of the coronavirus cases in India has severely impacted Covax’s vaccine supply in the second quarter of this year to the extent that there will be a shortfall of 190 million doses by the end of June, according to a joint statement by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and CEPI. The joint statement was issued on Thursday by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) CEO Dr Richard Hatchett, Gavi, Vaccine Alliance CEO Dr Seth Berkley, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

    “Countries that are advanced in their vaccination programmes are seeing cases of Covid decline, hospitalisations decrease and early signs of some kind of normality resume. However, the global picture is far more concerning,” the statement said.

    Giving a call to action to equip Covax to deliver 2 billion doses in 2021, the statement said, “We are seeing the traumatic effects of the terrible surge of Covid in South Asia – a surge which has also severely impacted global vaccine supplies.”

    It added that Covax has proven it works as the global mechanism for equitable access to Covid vaccines, having delivered over 70 million doses to 126 countries and economies around the world since February – from remote islands to conflict settings – managing the largest and most complex rollout of vaccines in history. Over 35 countries received their first Covid vaccine doses thanks to Covax.

    “However, the terrible surge of the virus in India has had a severe impact on Covax’s supply in the second quarter of this year, to the point where, by the end of June we will face a shortfall of 190 million doses,” the joint statement said.

    It said even though Covax will have larger volumes available later in the year through the deals it has already secured with several manufacturers, it warned that “if we do not address the current, urgent shortfall, the consequences could be catastrophic.”

    It said the pandemic has just taken a frightening new turn, as a deadly surge of cases rages across South Asia and other hotspots.

    The global agencies called on nations to share doses “now”, saying the United States and Europe have collectively pledged to share 180 million doses.

    Govt expects speedy India launch of single-dose Sputnik Light

    The government is hopeful of a speedy launch of single-dose Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik Light in India and all stakeholders, including the Russian manufacturer and its Indian partners, have been directed to fast-track the application and regulatory approval procedures for the jab to boost the country’s vaccination drive.

    An application seeking regulatory approval for Sputnik Light is expected to be filed in the next couple of weeks and it could become the first single-dose vaccine to be launched in India, sources said citing high-level discussions held among top government officials in the recent days to boost domestic availability of Covid-19 vaccines.          Source: PTI

  • Bill Gates says world should be back to normal by end-2022 due to vaccines: Polish media

    Bill Gates says world should be back to normal by end-2022 due to vaccines: Polish media

    WARSAW (TIP): The world should be back to normal by the end of 2022 thanks to COVID-19 vaccines, Bill Gates said in an interview for Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and television broadcaster TVN24, says a Reuters report. “This is an incredible tragedy,” the Microsoft co-founder said on the pandemic, adding that the only good news was the access to vaccines. “By the end of 2022 we should be basically completely back to normal,” Gates said. Gates, a billionaire who stepped down as chairman of Microsoft Corp in 2014, has through his philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed at least $1.75 billion to the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes support for some makers of vaccines, diagnostics and potential treatments. The COVAX facility, backed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), aims to secure 2 billion vaccine doses for lower income countries by the end of 2021.