Modi’s ‘Pharmacy of World’ Runs Short of Covid-19 Vaccine

‘Pharmacy of the world’, declared by Modi, is short of vaccine now and struggling to meet its domestic needs amid ragging cases of covid-19 in India.

A few months earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while replying to the motion of thanks in Rajya Sabha, boasted that India had emerged as the pharmacy for the world during the crisis.

PM during his speech asserted that the country had achieved victory against the deadly virus and that the world’s largest vaccination drive was underway in India.

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However, Modi’s overconfidence and poor planning resulted in the halt of the domestic vaccination drive.

The miscalculation by the government as well as unruly surge in cases during the second wave became a major cause behind the dearth in supplies.

The health experts are of the view that the government celebrated victory before time instead of making accurate calculations.

“Did no one do the calculation of how many doses will be needed in India?”, the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research’s Dr Vineeta Bal said.

With having two main local suppliers of the vaccine, the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech, India is running short of vaccine doses and has greenlit the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

On the other hand, the government is assuring the population that the supplies will improve soon as the country is expecting more than 2 billion shots to be available between August and December.

However, the experts have again warned the government for being too optimistic.

Additionally, the rise in cases of mucormycosis in India, known as black fungus, has added insult to the injury.

Wasted vaccine

Meanwhile, in Hongkong, several unused serums are being destroyed due to hours-long exposure to room temperature every day.

It is one of the few places in the world fortunate enough to secure more than required doses to vaccinate its population of 7.5 million people.