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(Adds U.S. State department reaction, background)
By Krishna N. Das
NEW DELHI, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi
said on Friday India was completely self-reliant on coronavirus
vaccine supplies as the world's second-most populous country
inoculated more than 1 million people within a week of starting
its campaign.
On Saturday, India began what the government calls the
world's biggest vaccination programme, using two shots made
locally: one licensed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc
, and another developed at home by Bharat Biotech in
partnership with the state-run Indian Council of Medical
Research.
"Our preparation has been such that vaccine is fast reaching
every corner of the country," Modi said on a video call with
healthcare workers.
"And on the world's biggest need today, we are completely
self-reliant. Not just that, India is also helping out many
countries with vaccines."
India, known as the pharmaceutical capital of the world, has
gifted vaccines to neighbours and partners such as Bangladesh,
Nepal, Bhutan, Seychelles, Mauritius and the Maldives. It is
starting commercial shipments to Brazil and Morocco on Friday.
The U.S. State Department praised the Indian effort.
"We applaud India’s role in global health, sharing millions
of doses of COVID-19 vaccine in South Asia," it said on Twitter.
"India's a true friend using its pharma to help the global
community."
Earlier this week, the head of the World Health Organization
urged countries and manufacturers to spread vaccines more fairly
around the world, and warned that the world was on the brink of
"catastrophic moral failure" if it did not do this.
FIRST MILLION VACCINATED
India's own vaccination drive kicked off with 30 million
healthcare and other frontline workers first in the queue,
followed by about 270 million people older than 50 or deemed at
high-risk because of pre-existing medical conditions.
That puts 70-year-old Modi in the second category. He
reiterated the sequence would be followed but no made reference
to when exactly he would be vaccinated.
India, a country of 1.35 billion people, has so far reported
10.63 million COVID-19 cases - the highest after the United
States - with 153,032 deaths.
The health ministry said India inoculated more people on its
first day than the United States, Britain or France. Still, it
has been urging more frontline workers to come forward to take
the shots as only a handful of states have been able to meet
their daily targets.
It said in a statement that 1.04 million people had received
their first doses as of early Friday.
Some doctors have expressed doubt about the Bharat Biotech
vaccine, which was given approval for emergency use without
efficacy data from late-stage clinical trials. The government
says it is safe and effective.
Bharat Biotech said on Friday that 13,000 people
participating in the late-stage trial of its COVAXIN had been
given the second dose, which could help it soon get some idea
about its efficacy. It began the late trial in November,
completing registration of a total 25,800 participants by early
January.
In the coming months, India is expected to approve two more
vaccines, Russia's Sputnik V and Cadila Healthcare's
ZyCov-D. India's focus on locally made shots could force
companies such as Pfizer Inc to also look at producing
in the country.
The U.S. company was first to seek emergency use
authorisation in India early last month, with plans to import
the shots, but a top government vaccine official has told
Reuters it will need to do a local trial first. The government
has also requested the company to consider local production,
like Russia has done.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das;
Additional reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Raju
Gopalakrishnan and Alison Williams)
