COVID-19 Surge Disrupts India's Health Care System - What Can You Do?

[India is in the midst of a record-breaking pandemic of coronavirus infections. [More than 200,000 people have died from COVID-19, making India the fourth deadliest country after the United States, Brazil, and Mexico. The government also reported more than 360,000 cases in the past 24 hours, a new global record and the fifth consecutive day with the largest increase in new COVID-19 cases in a single day of any country. (Still, some experts are concerned that the reported numbers grossly underestimate (open in new tab) the reality of both the effective number of infections and deaths in this country

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With even more people infected with the deadly virus, the surge has overwhelmed India's health care system (open in new tab) and hospitals are scrambling to supply oxygen and emergency aid. Worse, so far there is no sign of the epidemic abating.

"It doesn't seem to be peaking now," Dr. Giridara R. Babu of the Public Health Foundation of India told CNN (opens in new tab) on Monday. 'With the kind of data we are seeing, we are at least two to three weeks away from the peak.'

India appeared to have endured the worst of the pandemic last year, with record-low numbers of cases in January and February (opens in new tab), but things took a turn for the worse in early March.

Some experts believe that a homegrown variant called B.1.617 (open in new tab) is behind the resurgence of coronavirus infections across the country. Another well-known, highly contagious variant, B.1.1.7, which broke out in the UK late last year, may also be responsible for the increase. Lax guidelines for social distancing, low vaccination rates, and a delayed response by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have exacerbated the situation in India.

India is the world's largest producer of COVID-19 vaccine. So why is the vaccine not available to most of the population?

Through the Serum Institute of India, India manufactures about 60% of the world's vaccines (opens in new tab) and plays an important role in stemming the tide of the pandemic. However, India currently lacks the raw materials to produce vaccines for its 1.3 billion population.

Global inequities undoubtedly also contribute to the uneven distribution of vaccines worldwide. For example, Vox (opens in new tab) reports that high-income countries purchase 53% of the current supply of vaccines, while low-income countries purchase only 9%. In addition, Duke University's Center for Global Health Innovation estimates that the 92 poorest countries in the world will likely not be able to vaccinate 60 percent of their populations until after 2023 (opens in new tab).

According to Vox, countries like the United States and the United Kingdom could ensure early vaccine supplies by giving billions of dollars to pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Moderna to promote research in exchange for priority access to vaccines. In practice, countries that cannot afford to purchase vaccines in advance must wait longer to get life-saving vaccines.

Rich countries also stockpile more vaccines than their populations need. Canada, for example, purchases more than five times as many vaccines as its own population (opens in new tab). While 16% of the world's population lives in high-income countries, 46% of COVID-19 vaccines are distributed to high-income countries.

Countries in the Northern Hemisphere not only have the bulk of the vaccine supply, but also control production through export controls.

In February, President Joe Biden signed the Defense Production Act, which halted exports of raw materials needed to produce vaccines to India. Adar Poonawala, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, tweeted to the President on April 16 (opens in new tab)." If we are truly united in defeating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I respectfully ask you to lift the embargo on raw material exports from the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up." Under increasing pressure, the U.S. agreed this month to lift the restrictions and send 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to India.

In addition to spreading awareness about the COVID-19 crisis in India, the money can be donated to any of the following organizations that are helping the local population.

You can also find more resources through the crowdsourcing document (opens in new tab) on ongoing mutual aid efforts in India.

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