Indian Vaccine Export Ban Makes 91 Nations Vulnerable To New Strains: WHO

Hit by the devastating second wave, New Delhi had banned exports, redirecting supplies for domestic use.

India's decision to ban vaccine exports has had a severe impact on 91 nations dependent on Serum Institute of India's (SII) product, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. With inadequate stocks, these countries, several of them in Africa, remain extremely susceptible to new strains of Covid, including B.1.617.2, first discovered in India. "91 countries are impacted by the shortage of supplies, particularly since the AstraZeneca parent company has not been able to compensate for the doses which have not come from Serum," Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO Chief Scientist, told NDTV. These nations are particularly vulnerable to new, more transmissible strains of Covid, including B.1.617.2, according to her. "Not just B.1.617.2, but other variants will emerge in other countries and spread around the world...We know that these variants spread very quickly. Even before they can be recognised, they are already spreading around the world. The same thing happened with the 117 [variant], now dominant," she said.