Vaccine Hoarding May Backfire on Rich Nations as India Reels
- Variants emerging in India pose worldwide threat, experts say
- India’s vaccine shortages in part blamed on U.S. export curbs
For months, developed economies have hoarded Covid-19 vaccines and the raw materials needed to make them. Now, they’re being forced to act as an explosive outbreak in India raises the risk of new virus mutations that could threaten the wider world.
Under mounting criticism for dominating vaccine resources, the U.S. said this week that it will help India by sending items needed to manufacture vaccines as part of an aid package. European countries are also pledging help as new cases in the South Asian country smash world records. President Joe Biden’s administration is separately vowing to share its stockpile of AstraZeneca Plc vaccines -- which the U.S. hasn’t even approved for use -- and meeting with drug companies about boosting supply and waiving intellectual property protections on Covid-19 shots, a shift India and South Africa have been pushing for.