India is the largest buyer of COVID-19 vaccines in the world with 1.6 billion doses, according to a global analysis, a number some scientists say could cover 800 million people, or 60 per cent of its population, and will be enough to develop ‘herd immunity’.
As of now, India has purchased 500 million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, one billion from the US company Novavax and 100 million doses of the Sputnik V candidate from Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute, according to the US-based Duke University Global Health Innovation Center.
The European Union is the second-largest buyer of COVID-19 vaccines with 1.58 billion doses followed by the US that has purchased a little over one billion doses.
While India has purchased three COVID-19 vaccines as of November 30, the US and EU have purchased six vaccine candidates as per the Launch and Scale Speedometer analysis.
As countries strategise to secure more shots to protect their populations against the novel coronavirus infection, Duke University has released a new global assessment of purchasing agreements for COVID-19 vaccines, even before any candidates are in the market.
“Countries with manufacturing capacity, such as India and Brazil, have been successful in negotiating large advance market commitments with leading vaccine candidates as part of the manufacturing agreements,” the Duke researchers noted in their analysis.
