G7 countries should donate excess supplies to the global vaccine-sharing scheme as “a minimum, essential” measure, UNICEF has said, to plug an “emergency” gap triggered by a drop-off in Indian exports.
The COVAX scheme relies heavily on doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), which are produced for dozens of low and middle income countries. But India curbed exports of the jab so it could be used domestically to tackle a second wave ripping through the country.