India’s vaccine scenario could have been better if it has purchased vaccines in bulk last year: Top virologist

Dealing with a pandemic is not an easy task. India did not take the risk to purchase the vaccines because all the vaccines were in the trial stage. The authorities have waited till the vaccine trial came to the last stage before deciding to purchase. Instead, India could have purchased vaccines like other countries, writes ETV Bharat Senior Correspondent Gautam Debroy.

New Delhi: In an exclusive interaction with ETV Bharat, India’s top virologist Dr Gagandeep Kang on Wednesday said that the country’s vaccine scenarios could have been in a better situation if it had purchased vaccines in bulk last year when countries across the globe were in a hurry for the same.

“Dealing with a pandemic is not an easy task. Our government did not take the risk to purchase the vaccines because all the vaccines were in the trial stage. They have waited till the vaccine trial came to the last stage before deciding to purchase. Instead of that, we could have purchased vaccines like other countries,” said Dr Kang.

She said, “We do not know if the product will work, even then we need to invest. More calibrated responsive planning and investment was needed and approached more than two platforms to get value.”

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The statement given by the renowned virologist came at a time when India has reportedly been facing an acute vaccine shortage.

Data provided by US-based Duke Global Health Innovation Center revealed that countries across the globe have purchased vaccine doses from a wide pool of candidates to cover their populations. So far, confirmed purchases cover 9.1 billion doses, with another 8.7 billion doses currently under negotiation or reserved as optional expansions of existing deals.

Statistics show that India till date has purchased 39,00,00,000 vaccines including 21,00,00,000 vaccines of Covishiled (SII-Oxford-AstraZeneca), 8,00,00,000 doses of Covaxin (Bharat Biotech) and 10,00,00,000 doses of Sputnik V (Gamaleya Research-Russia).

However, the quantity of doses procured by India is very less in comparison to several other developed and developing countries.

US purchased 1,21,00,00,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines including from Sanofi-GSK, Novavax, J&J, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer. EU purchased 2,88,50,00,000 doses of vaccines from CureVac, Sanofi-GSK, Novavax, J&J, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer.

The UK purchased 51,70,00,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines including from companies like Valneva, Cure Vac, Sanofi-GSK, Novavax, J&J, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

Significantly, Brazil was also ahead of India as far as vaccines purchase is concerned. The data provided by Duke Global Health Innovation Center said that 47,00,00,000 doses of vaccines had been procured by the Caribbean country that includes companies like Bharat Biotech, Gamaleya Research-Russia, Sinovac, J&J, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer.

“We relied on our own manufacturers and it was not a wrong thing to do. But what should have been done is that both the manufacturer and the government should have thought realistically about the supply time and the rollout of the immunization programs. A lot of this was unpredictable…you do not know when you will get results for the vaccine. You do not know how difficult it is to ramp up production capacity. But what you can do is that as the data emerges, you can calibrate your vaccination programme, your supply situation which could put you in a good situation,” said Dr Kang.

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She suggested that it was a good idea if India could have got more manufacturers to make more vaccines.

Amid vaccine shortage in India, several state governments like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal and Goa have floated global tenders for vaccine procurement.

Regulatory approval process and timeline differ from country to country but Covid-19 vaccines across the world have been produced and authorized for use with record speed.

The first approval was announced by Russia in August 2020 for their Sputnik V vaccine, manufactured by Gamaleya Research Institute. The first vaccine to receive approval by a stringent regulatory authority was Pfizer-BioNTech in the UK in December last year.

“In the beginning WHO had recommended the principle of the regulatory alliance. If we had followed WHO’s principle of regulatory alliance earlier, we could have vaccines available for purchase. Had we done with Pfizer and Moderna, we would have had two more companies,” said Dr Kang who is also a member of the Supreme Court-appointed committee on medical oxygen.

India’s vaccine procurement policy had been widely criticised by all corners. Unlike the United States which invested $10 billion in Operation “Warp Speed” in March last year, even before key vaccines were fully developed, India never paid for the clinical development of vaccines. They did not place advance bulk orders too.

Dr Kang, however, said that India’s vaccine manufacturer-Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India are good vaccines producing companies. “They can produce but ramping up capacity is an issue…,” said Dr Kang.

When asked about the Centre's announcement of having 2 billion doses by December this year, Dr Kang said that the projected target may not be possible to achieve.

“I do not think 2 billion doses by December is going to happen. I think it is very optimistic, I certainly hope it happens. But 2 billion doses by end of December is unlikely for me given the fact that we are in the same position where we were earlier,” she said.

The virologist suggested that India needs to wait until the rich countries immunize all their populations.

“They (the rich countries) have already kept vaccines in their stock to immunize their population. Many of the countries have a very small population. But our country has a huge population, it’s like all of Africa. So, once their vaccination is over, we will get the vaccines. However, I believe, toward the end of the year the supply will ease in the country,” said Dr Kang.

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