A recent study has pegged India as the biggest buyer of confirmed vaccine doses at 1,600 million. The study, conducted by Duke University, US, places the European Union in the second position with nearly as much as India, while the US has managed to purchase a 1,000 million vaccine doses. Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom have purchased less than 400 million confirmed vaccine doses.
Titled 'Launch and Scale Speedometer', the study analysed data up to November 30 on vaccine procurement and manufacturing to track the flow of procurement and better understand global equity challenges. The North Carolina-based university conducted research to identify Covid-19 vaccine candidates and status, ongoing negotiations of procurement and manufacturing, virus burden in a country, and allocation and distribution plans.
The study showed, “Countries with manufacturing capacity, such as India and Brazil, have been successful in negotiating large advance market commitments with leading vaccine candidates as part of the manufacturing agreements.” It pointed out that there won't be enough vaccines to cover the entire global population until 2023 or 2024.
“Most high-income countries have been able to negotiate purchases through the investment of large amounts of public funds into research and development of Covid-19 vaccines and leveraged purchasing power to make large-scale deals across a portfolio of vaccine candidates,” it said.
