India Needs to Move Vaccines to Warp Speed
The country should use the market to get more shots into more arms faster.
India has only approved two vaccines thus far.
Photographer: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images
A frightening second wave of Covid-19 has begun to sweep over the world’s second-biggest nation. Case numbers and deaths are spiking in India, threatening to overwhelm hospital systems; the financial capital Mumbai has re-imposed stringent lockdown rules. The government, which had earned global goodwill by exporting Indian-made vaccines to over 80 countries, is now holding back supplies for domestic use.
With less than 70 million doses delivered thus far, though, and a population of more than 1.3 billion, India faces a staggering challenge. It doesn’t just need more vaccines — it needs to find a way to get them into arms faster.