They want to immediately distribute the vaccine
The Serum Institute of India, which is the worlds largest vaccine maker, is increasing its production of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine. The manufacturers aim to produce 100 million doses before the end of 2020.
The vials containing the Covid-19 vaccine have been developed by Oxford University and licensed to AstraZeneca.
The vaccine has a few more hurdles to overcome before it can be mass-produced.
Once done, the Serum Institute of India will have the authorisation from the Indian government to distribute the vaccine.
The Indian manufacturers play a key role in producing the vaccination. There are only a few other manufacturers who can match the scale and facilities offered by the Serum Institute of India.
As they are the leading supplier, they are trying to avoid what is known as “vaccine nationalism”.
This is where wealthy countries who can afford to pay huge sums of money for the vaccine, buy out the majority of the vaccinations. This then causes developing countries to struggle to contain the virus.
There are already 54.1 million coronavirus cases worldwide and 1.31 million people have died from the virus.
Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation stated:
“Covid anywhere is Covid everywhere.”
She explained how even if the US purchased all vaccinations and every single individual in the country was free from coronavirus, the virus will still “bounce back.”
A prime example is New Zealand. Although they have done exceptionally well to keep the country Covid-19 free for a while, if they are to resume travel, the virus will return.
The best way to improve the world’s economy is to distribute the vaccination amongst both rich and poor countries.
Duke University Global Health Innovation Centre released a study stating that some countries have already struck deals to ensure they are a priority when a vaccination is produced.
To add, they have purchased enough vaccines to inoculate their population several times over.
It was said that the US “already has agreements to purchase enough doses to cover 230% of its population and could eventually control 1.8 billion doses, about a quarter of the world’s near-term supply.”
Again this strips poorer countries from any hope of receiving the vaccination. It also does not aid the US as they are still not free from eventually catching the virus.
With the approval of the vaccine drawing closer, the World Health Organisation has asked if there could be an equal distribution of it. This would then stop the pandemic.
“If people in low and middle-income countries miss out on vaccines, the virus will continue to kill, and the economic recovery globally will be delayed.”
For this reason, the Indian manufacturers are preparing to meet the incredibly high demand for the vaccination, once it has been approved.
They want to immediately distribute the vaccine so they are tirelessly working to create a large quantity.
They have aimed for December 2020 but understand that it may also flow through to the beginning of 2021.
Although this would be a large production, the Serum Institute of India has also manufactured vaccines. These include:
- Polio vaccine
- Diphtheria
- Measles
- Mumps
- Rubella
They have produced and sold more than 1.5 billion doses globally.
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