Editor's Pick: India leads global vaccines orders

The Hindu Newsletter - Newsletter - subject [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Sunday 06, December 2020 [alt_text]( Editor's Pick India leads global vaccines orders [alt_text]( (The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.) India is set to buy the largest number of [COVID-19 vaccine]( doses in the world, with orders placed for 1.6 billion doses of three vaccines. This has been reported in a research published by the Global Health Innovation Centre of Duke University in the U.S. The order includes 500 million doses of Covishield, the [Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine](; 100 million doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine from Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute; and one billion doses of the NVX‑CoV2373 by U.S.-based Novovax. All three are vaccines that are being manufactured in India: [Covishield and NVX‑CoV2373](by the Serum Institute of India in Pune, and [Sputnik-V]( by Dr. Reddy's. The Union Health Minister had in November said that the government is looking to make available 400-500 million doses of the vaccine in India by July-August next year. 1.6 billion vaccine doses, distributed over the next year or so, would be enough to inoculate about 800 million people or about 60 % of the population. This is the threshold to achieve herd immunity, with the large number of immune persons preventing quick spread of infection. The Novovax vaccine, which forms the bulk of India's order, utilises a unique technology of nanoparticles carrying the antigens into the body. This vaccine can be transported under normal refrigeration, making it suitable for distribution using India's universal immunisation programme. The efficacy data for this vaccine is yet to be available, while Covishield has reported a 70% average efficacy and Sputnik-V claims over 90%. The Duke University report shows that the Advanced Market Commitments, or pre-orders for vaccines, have been made predominantly by high-income countries, with 3.8 billion doses set to go to them. The data shows that Canada, U.S., EU and U.K. and Australia have ordered enough vaccine doses to ensure 200-600% coverage of their populations. Lower-middle income countries have made orders for 1.7 billion doses, a bulk of which would be India's number. India has an advantage among lower income countries since it is involved in the manufacture of the vaccines and can negotiate AMCs along with the manufacturing agreements. This gives rise to the worry that poorer countries will be able to access enough vaccines only much later, even by several years. While the news that India has prebooked enough vaccines to ensure herd immunity is welcome, the possibility of unequal distribution of vaccines is alarming. This could result in global no-go areas and affect travel and trade further, especially for poorer countries. This is what makes the story important. The Big Story [Dilli Chalo | Farmers set ultimatum on repeal of new agriculture laws]( [alt_text]( From the Front Page [alt_text]( [Seven arrested under anti-conversion law in U.P.]( [alt_text]( [Coronavirus | India is biggest buyer of COVID-19 vaccines]( Profiles [alt_text]( Profiles | [Organisation of Islamic Cooperation | Islamic multilateralism with internal fissures]( [alt_text]( Profiles | [Neera Tanden | Hard-hitting Democrat]( Literary Review [Brown man’s burden: St](ephen Alter's 'Feral Dreams' Anusua Mukherjee [Si](ddhartha Sarma's 'Twilight in a Knotted World' R. Krithika You are receiving this email because you are a user of [thehindu.com]( If you do not wish to receive any such emails, [unsubscribe here.](mailto:rm-0b43851tbf2f90kaup33rtbysa8hksm@newsalert.thehindu.com?subject=Unsubscribe&body=You will be unsubscribed from our mailing list.) To ensure you continue to receive emails from The Hindu in your inbox, please add newsletters.th@newsalert.thehindu.com to your contact. If you can't see the mailer, please [click here.]( Group Sites [The Hindu]( | [இந்து தமிழ் திசை]( | [Business Line]( | [BL on Campus]( | [Sportstar]( | [Frontline]( | [The Hindu Centre]( | [Images]( | [roofandfloor]( | [Classifieds]( Copyright @ 2020 ,THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. [About Us]( | [Contact Us]( | [Digital Subscription](