As part of our vaccine diplomacy, India lent a helping hand to deserving nations, providing them with vaccines. But this attempt at appeasing the international community has exacted a heavy toll on the local populace. Several states this week had expressed concern to the Centre regarding a steep shortage of vaccines.

In Tamil Nadu, the State Health Department had informed the Centre that vaccine supplies are set to run out within a week’s time. The state which has received 54 lakh doses and has vaccinated 34 lakh people, is now witnessing people being turned away from vaccination sites as the shots get exhausted within the first few hours of the drive. TN Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan had earlier warned that a dip in the vaccinations carried out by the state could have an impact on the doses being allotted to it by the Centre.

Vaccine shortages have been reported in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Jharkhand as well. In AP, only 3 lakh doses of the vaccine remained as of Thursday, while Odisha might be compelled to halt its vaccination drive if vaccines are not made available shortly. Similarly, Maharashtra which was promised 7.3 lakh doses will be sent 17 lakh doses as the state Health Minister raised concerns of vaccination being halted in many areas. The state requires 40 lakh doses a week, and this boost of 17 lakh doses will fall short of meeting the actual requirement. So how is the administration reacting to these developments? The Centre has said it will not stop the supply of Indian-made vaccines to other nations. However, it has also assured that domestic needs will be met. On Friday, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that 6.45 cr doses of the vaccine have been exported to 84 nations. These doses are inclusive of 1.05 cr doses sent to 44 nations as grants, apart from 3.58 cr doses sent to 25 nations as part of commercial contracts, and 1.82 cr doses sent to 39 countries under the COVAX arrangement with WHO.

The exports are offset by 9.4 cr vaccines allocated to different states in India, as part of the Centre’s vaccination programme. Having distributed 43 lakh doses last week, the Minister claimed this was the highest quantum distributed anywhere in the world. Vardhan had earlier lashed out at a few states placing the onus of managing the vax drive effectively on the local administration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has set into motion a vaccination festival between April 11 and 14, has remarked that inoculation will currently not encompass all adults, as requested by the CMs of several states. These remarks came on the back of the nation recording a new high of 1.31 lakh fresh cases on Friday, with 780 fatalities.

India’s attempts to inoculate 300 mn people by August might face a bump considering how it lags in immunisations per capita. The nation had administered over 100 mn shots so far, trailing the US which has a population of 331 mn, and administered 169 mn doses; and China, with a population of a little over India’s, which has administered 142 mn doses. As per experts, at the current rate, India will take at least nine months to fully vaccinate 20% of its population (275 mn people) with two doses.

India is caught in a conundrum – vaccinating our own as against vaccinating the world. The EU had just asked India last week, to permit it to purchase 10 mn doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from SII, to make up for the supply shortfall in European plants. Stakeholders in healthcare worry India might soon be at a point where domestic and international demand for vaccines could overwhelm our local manufacturing capacity – which in turn could draw out the pandemic for a much longer duration.