New Delhi: More people = more vaccines.
India will be the world’s largest buyer of COVID-19 vaccines with 1.6 billion doses that will cover 60 per cent of the population or 80 crore people. This number is expected to develop herd immunity.
India has pre-booked 50 crore doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, 100 crore from US Novavax, 10 crore of Russia’s Sputnik V, according to US-based Duke University Global Health Innovation Center.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is being manufactured at Serum Institute in Pune and the Sputnik V at Dr Reddy’s Lab in Hyderabad.
The European Union has confirmed 158 crore doses and the US has procured over a 100 crore doses.
“Countries with manufacturing capacity, such as India and Brazil, have been successful in negotiating large advance market commitments with leading vaccine candidates as part of the manufacturing agreements,” the Duke researchers noted in their analysis.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said that 40-50 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines were expected to be available for 25-30 crore people here by July-August 2021.
Bharat Biotech, which is in phase 3 development, and Zydus-Cadila are expected to provide around 40 crore more doses.
Virologist Jameel, director of Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, has said that around 25 crore people in India will be vaccinated in 2021.
The first 50 crore doses are likely to be given to frontline workers and the elderly.
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