India pledges $8bn boost for Covid-19 vaccines

India reported nearly 3800 new deaths on Wednesday — a national record — and more than 380,000 fresh cases of Covid-19.

Relatives mourn during the cremation of a loved one in India’s Allahabad on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

India on Wednesday pledged billions of dollars to boost its flagging vaccine program as US President Joe Biden said 70 per cent of American adults should have had at least one corona­virus shot by July 4.

Pfizer reported a huge jump in profits based on sales of its COVID-19 vaccines as a growing campaign called for patent waivers so poorer nations can get quicker access.

Among the leaders of that campaign is India, which reported nearly 3800 deaths on Wednesday — a national record — and more than 380,000 fresh cases as it grapples with the world’s worst outbreak.

“The devastating speed with which the virus affects different regions of the country has to be matched by swift and wide-ranging actions,” said Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das, as he announced $US6.7bn ($8.7bn) in cheap financing for vaccine makers, hospitals and other health firms.

Experts have warned that case numbers will keep rising until the end of the month and could reach 500,000 infections a day.

India’s underfunded health system has struggled to cope with this wave, with patients dying in hospital carparks due to a lack of beds and medical oxygen.

The government expanded its massive vaccination program to all adults last week, but many states are facing shortages.

While New Delhi and other major cities have imposed curfews and other restrictions, the government has resisted opposition calls for a nationwide lockdown as it tries to avoid the economic downturn that accompanied such restrictions last year.

“The poor have nothing left,” said Vimala Devi, a 61-year-old homemaker in Delhi, told AFP on Tuesday. “We are just left to die on the streets.”

Vaccine shortages are not an issue in the US, however, where Mr Biden said he wanted 70 per cent of American adults to have received at least one shot by the July 4 Independence Day holiday.

Mr Biden also said his administration was “ready to move ­immediately” if regulators authorise the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds.

But the plan to jab teens is controversial, with many experts questioning the wisdom of devoting limited vaccine supplies to a low-risk group instead of sharing it to target high-risk groups around the world.

“I think if you vaccinate 12 to 15-year-olds in the United States before you vaccinate 70-year-olds globally, you’re making a terrible error,” said UCSF physician and epidemiologist Vinay Prasad.

And Priya Sampathkumar, chair of Infection Prevention & Control at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, said: “Vaccinating more people in the US is not going to help us if the variants in India, Nepal and South Asia get out of control and hit our shores.”

The US and other G7 nations are under growing pressure to help poorer nations, including by waiving intellectual property and patent rules for vaccines, at least temporarily.

Mr Biden said he had not made a decision on whether to support a waiver but that the US was ­moving “as quickly as we can” to export doses.

AFP