India, up to now a big player in the supply of the vaccine for Nicaragua has temporarily halted exports of the Covid-19 Vaccines it has been providing to “middle and low income countries” around the world.
In September of 2020, the company known as the Serum Institute of India (SII), one of the biggest manufacturers of coronavirus vaccines in the world, agreed to supply 200 million doses to COVAX; the World Health Organization administered Donor Purchase System. Under the agreement, they were to supply 100 million each of the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines.
The United Nations says that India has so far provided 28 million doses to COVAX. As well, the halt on exports (albeit announced as temporary) means that another 40 million COVAX doses that were expected in March did not arrive. The UN expects further delays in April.
Vaccines to Nicaragua
According to the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India, as of 10th of April 2021, Nicaragua has received a total of 335,000 “Made-in-India” COVID19 vaccine shots (Note: The Indian measurement of a “Lakh” is 100,000).
There was a donation (or grant) of 200,000 doses delivered on March 5th 2021 and a further 135,000 doses under the WHO COVAX system on 14th March 2021 for a total of 335,000 doses.
As well, Nicaragua is on the list for more vaccines by way of purchase orders and is waiting for those to be filled.
BBC NEWS: Covishield and Covaxin: What we know about India’s Covid-19 vaccines
India needs more Vaccines at Home
At the same time as India becomes overwhelmed with the demand from other countries; it also needs the vaccines for its own people, an estimated population of 1.4 Billion people. It must also be noted that India has a coronavirus surge going on right now with 100,000 new cases being reported on a daily basis, further highlighting the need for the vaccine at home.
SII have announced that they are giving priority to their own population. Their status as of today is they are unable to vaccinate every one of their own. Also, they have recently extended their own vaccination program by lowering the vaccination age to 45 (and above). They predict it will be July until they can lower that age again due to the limited supply.
Currently India produces two vaccines that have been approved for use in India; The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine which is known in India as Covishield and also Covaxin which was developed in India.
Astrazeneca has already sent the Serum Institute of India legal notices for delays in the exports of Covid-19 Vaccines in contravention of their contractual obligations.
The SII has requested a government of India grant in excess of US $400 million in order to ramp up production of the AstraZeneca derived COVID-19 vaccine. SII say that this would increase monthly production from 70 million doses to 100 million by the end of May 2021.
Nicaraguan Vaccination Program
The Ministry of Health (MINSA) continues to roll out the vaccination program in Nicaragua on a voluntary basis using the 335,000 doses from India as well as the unknown amount of Sputnik V vaccine shots donated by Russia.
