India

[Baileysforchristmas]

How on earth are India going to get there numbers down? If they impose to harsher lockdown people will starve to death. I think virus was quietly spreading in February when everyone was saying how well India was doing.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/21/delhi-warns-hospitals-running-out-of-oxygen-amid-indias-devastating-covid-wave

At this point vaccines won't touch it, they have to lockdown, india has awful poverty, but it's got an awful lot of wealth too, they absolutely need to support the population to lockdown, with international aid if needed. India have had one of the fastest growing economies in the world for some time now.

If infection rates keep rising, and theres no sign of them falling yet, hospitals will continue to be overwhelmed and many people will die, not just of covid. The choice is lockdown or accept a high death rate for potentially months.

Recorded deaths in India are currently around 191k. Ten times that would be 1.9 million, which is probably overstating it, but who knows. I certainly don't believe the numbers that are being published at present, because all of the indicators suggest that the actual numbers are much higher, but I don't actually know how anyone could begin to quantify the impact accurately. There are just too many unknowns, so it's all guesswork.

Massive fuck up by the Indian government on vaccines, they've bought less than a tenth of the number of vaccine doses than Brazil has. Thanks to their nationalism they refused local production and licensing of Pfizer insisting that new local trials be conducted first. Meanwhile directed lots of funds to the "100% Indian" vaccine, COVAXIN, designed and produced by Bharat Biotech, despite it being at that point in very early stage trials and with no mass production capability in place. Their biggest vaccine producer the, Serum Institute, was signing deals last year to export hundreds of millions of AZ doses all around the world - but the Indian government didn't buy any AZ from them until earlier this year, and only 11m doses which is nothing.

And they gave up on test, trace, and isolate, even having a slogan about how vaccines will save the day

And now this local vaccine, Covaxin has to be paid for by the consumer. Bharat Biotech is charging an absurd sum of money.

We should as a matter of urgency donate our AZ quota to India without hesitation.

@vera99

We should as a matter of urgency donate our AZ quota to India without hesitation.

Why not America? They're hoarding loads of AZ they don't even want or need. They're also refusing India's pleas to end the US export ban on some of the raw materials required to make the vaccines.

@vera99

We should as a matter of urgency donate our AZ quota to India without hesitation.

really? no thanks i'd quite like the vaccine and for my family to be vaccinated

@vera99

We should as a matter of urgency donate our AZ quota to India without hesitation.

Why? I agree we should donate the excess but not the entire quota. What about people who've had the first dose for example?

As a previous poster said, why not the US? Why does it have to be the UK?

www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/india-hopeful-us-will-soon-end-curbs-vaccine-raw-materials-export-govt-sources-2021-04-19/

Tbf to Biden, awful as it is I do understand to an extent the urge to put your own oxygen mask on before helping others idea behind it. However even if he wants to hold on for now to the raw materials, is there much point America hanging on to their supply of AZ? They've said they don't need it as they've enough of Pfizer and Moderna.

There is a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding now in India they manufacture vaccines that we have contracts for we have something like 400 million valid vaccines on order / in country / in the pipeline the least we can do is forgo our contractual expectations at the current time. All other countries should do the same. That said they will no doubt keep whatever they have for themselves - who wouldn't in their circumstances.

of course we keep ours which we NEED

as should every country....excess then yes, send to those who need it....do Brazil need it too?

But a year in, we deserve to have our entire country vaccinated.

humanitarian catastrophe which could have been lesser if masks/distancing were in use like many other countries

@Bluebird2021

humanitarian catastrophe which could have been lesser if masks/distancing were in use like many other countries

You sound utterly heartless.

@Warmduscher do I? hmm ok then.

its true though

You can't deny that there have been mass gatherings though @Warmduscher. There's been religious festivals, political rallies, cricket matches. That's not being heartless and I can imagine the uproar if it had happened here with people shouting about 'covidiots' (ridiculous term) etc.

It has and does happen here PinkSparklyPussyCat The mass gatherings. People travelling from all over to London (which although not quite like India's awful situation has suffered more than 10,000 deaths, and like India saw overwhelmed hospitals). Mass gathering is not unique to India.

its true though

What, it’s true that you want the vaccine for yourself and your family? I have no trouble believing that.

of course people want the vaccine used here first, how ridiculous to expect the vaccine programme to stop here and to be moved over to India. No. This country has waited and paid the price, now the vaccine is here, it should be for us all to benefit from

Didn't someone say the Indian Gov. charge for vaccination ? I can't imagine any Government handing over their Countries vaccines so that India can charge for them . Would be better done through Charity .

Yes my dad paid for both doses. Rs250. You can get it for free in govt hospitals but at the moment doses are hard to come by. And the price has been hiked.

@ChaBishkoot

Yes my dad paid for both doses. Rs250. You can get it for free in govt hospitals but at the moment doses are hard to come by. And the price has been hiked.

so they've got plenty then, just making people pay for it or travel to a government hospital?

The salient point is that some of our AZ quota is actually manufactured in India and natural justice would suggest at the present time should stay there. Contract or no contract.

@vera99

The salient point is that some of our AZ quota is actually manufactured in India and natural justice would suggest at the present time should stay there. Contract or no contract.

But we need it. America doesn't. They've said they have enough Pfizer and Moderna. It makes much more sense of anyone's donating for it to be America giving their surplus than for us to give our limited supply.

*if

No there is a real shortage. Why there is a shortage we can’t understand. SII has now clarified that the raw materials from the USA thing only applies to Novovax which they are contracted to produce in September not Covishield/AZ.

Very hard to get the vaccine at the moment and as I said I am not sure what’s causing the supply bottleneck.
Possibly corruption. Also I assume actual workers at the plant are also sick.

But there are other issues. Half the world’s children last year were vaccinated by Serum Institute vaccines. India is a major player in the global vaccine chain. So if it collapses it has enormous global consequences. So the world needs to help India but also the rest of the world dependent on non COVID vaccines from India.

Right now though India needs Oxygen and ventilators. I believe the UAE and Singapore have started to fly in supplies.