Curbs By India, World's Biggest Vaccine Export, To Hit Poorest Nations

Expansion of India's immunization campaign to include everyone aged over 45 beginning April 1 also contributed to the curbs, though a schedule for exports remains in place until Sunday, the officials said.

India is restricting coronavirus vaccine exports, a move that will likely hit the world's most disadvantaged nations hardest and exacerbate what the World Health Organization's head this week called a "grotesque" supply chasm between rich and poor countries. Solidarity with Africa's youngest nation. South Sudan receives Made in India vaccines. #VaccineMaitripic.twitter.com/otN10lNakm The world's biggest vaccine exporter, the country is a key supplier to Covax, a program backed by WHO and partners to deploy shots to every corner of the globe. India's decision to pare back shipments threatens the group's plans to inoculate 2 billion people before the end of the year. After the country shipped or donated more than 60 million doses of Covid vaccine, India's exports have slowed to a trickle. Growing criticism of the speed of its own immunization campaign and a fivefold increase in new virus infections over the past month spurred the change, according to government officials familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the decision has not been publicly announced. "Both these things are linked," said Shahid Jameel, director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences at India's Ashoka University. "At a time that a surge is happening in India, there is pressure on the government."