The Struggles of India’s Vaccine Giant

The Daily

• Episode: The Struggles of India’s Vaccine Giant
• Website: The Daily
• Feed URL: http://rss.art19.com/the-daily
• Duration: 00:28:02
• Published: 2021-06-24 11:45

When the coronavirus hit, the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, seemed uniquely positioned to help. It struck a deal with AstraZeneca, promising a billion vaccine doses to low- and middle-income nations. 

Earlier this year, a ban instituted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi put a stop to those plans. 

What has that meant for the nations promised millions of doses?

Guest: Emily Schmall, a South Asia correspondent for The New York Times based in New Delhi. 

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Background reading: 

• The Serum Institute vowed to protect its country from the coronavirus and inoculate the world’s poor, but India’s crisis has pushed it past its limits.
• Big-power muscle flexing helps explain many of the world’s vaccine inequities, but there’s another problem: The manufacturing challenge is unprecedented.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.