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Africa’s Vaccine Drive Is Threatened by India’s Provide Halt

Africa's Vaccine Drive Is Threatened by India's Supply Halt

NAIROBI, Kenya – The rapidly escalating coronavirus crisis in India is not only forcing hospitals to ration oxygen, it is sending families to find open beds for infected relatives. It is also wreaking havoc on vaccination efforts around the world.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Africa.

Most nations relied on vaccines made in the Serum Institute factory in India. However, the Indian government’s decision to restrict can exports as it deals with its own outbreak means that Africa’s already slow vaccination campaign could soon come to a standstill.

Before India stopped exporting, more than 70 nations received vaccines it had made with a total of more than 60 million doses. Many went to low and middle income countries as part of the Covax program, the global initiative to ensure equitable access to vaccines.

To date, Covax has dispensed 43.4 million doses in 119 countries, but that’s only about 2 percent of the two billion doses expected to be dispensed this year, according to Andrea Taylor, associate director at Duke Global Health Innovation Center.

“Export controls from India are the main limitation on Covax’s current offering,” she wrote in an email.

Even before India stopped shipping, Africa saw the slowest vaccine introduction of any continent. As of April 21, African nations, with a total population of 1.3 billion, had received more than 36 million doses of vaccine, but administered only about 15 million, according to the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What You Need To Know About The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Break In The United States

    • On April 23, an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to lift a hiatus on Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine and put a label on an extremely rare but potentially dangerous bleeding disorder.
    • Federal health officials are expected to officially recommend states lift the hiatus.
    • The vaccine was recently discontinued after reports of a rare bleeding disorder surfaced in six women who received the vaccine.
    • The overall risk of developing the disorder is extremely small. Women between the ages of 30 and 39 appear to be most at risk, with 11.8 cases per million doses. There were seven cases per million doses in women between 18 and 49 years of age.
    • Almost eight million doses of the vaccine have now been given. There was less than one case per million doses in men and women aged 50 and over.
    • Johnson & Johnson had also decided to postpone the launch of its vaccine in Europe for similar reasons, but later decided to continue its campaign after the European Union Medicines Agency announced the addition of a warning. South Africa, devastated by a contagious variant of the virus, also stopped using the vaccine, but later continued to use it.

Only six million doses were administered in all of sub-Saharan Africa – fewer than many individual US states. The prospect of a reduction in supply complicates the already enormous logistical challenge for many African nations.

Many African governments prioritized giving initial doses to more of their populations in the expectation that more doses would arrive soon. Now they are struggling with what to do when there aren’t enough vaccines to get the full two-dose regimen that provides maximum prevention.

Countries like Rwanda and Ghana, which were among the first to receive doses of Covax, are about to run out of initial supplies. In Botswana, vaccinations were temporarily suspended in some areas this month after the allotted doses ended. And Kenya, which is nearing its initial 1 million dose, said this week it would try to acquire vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer to continue its vaccination campaign. On Saturday, due to delays, the country extended the time between first and second dose administration from eight to 12 weeks.

Overall, the 10 African countries that have had the most vaccinations have gone through more than two-thirds of their deliveries, said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa.

The African Union Vaccination Group has secured funding to purchase up to 400 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines for member states – but those doses will not arrive until the fall.

“More than a billion Africans are on the verge of this historic march to end this pandemic,” said Dr. Moeti.

A spokesman for Gavi, who heads the Covax program, said in an email that it was in close contact with the Indian government about resuming vaccine shipments, but that “we cannot confirm the timing of the next shipments at this stage . “

Even if the United States is betting on tens of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine – the most affordable vaccine that is widely available – African nations are turning to Russia and China for doses in those countries, despite concerns about a lack of clinical data on its effectiveness pass and security.

Amid the delays, some African countries are facing new and potentially more deadly waves of the pandemic. The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 2,155 deaths from the virus in the past week, up from 1,866 the week before.

In Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and home to one of the better health systems on the continent, officials have warned of a lack of intensive care beds and oxygen supplies. Last month, the Kenyan government ordered a new lockdown, which has fueled anger over the economic impact of the restrictions.

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Health

Goldman Sachs downgrades India’s progress forecast as Covid instances spike

South Asia faces a wake up call as it trails in global gender equality

NOIDA, INDIA – APRIL 11: A woman holds a pot at a food distribution by Noida Authority in Morna Village in Sector 35 on the eighteenth day of the 21 day coronavirus limit lockdown on April 11, 2020 in Noida, India. (Photo by Virendra Singh Gosain / Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Hindustan Times | Hindustan Times | Getty Images

A second wave of Covid-19 infections is likely to slow India’s economic recovery in the three months between April and June, according to Goldman Sachs.

The investment bank cut India’s growth forecast for the quarter from 33.4% yoy to 31.3% on Tuesday. Lower consumption and service activity was cited, likely due to the increasing social restrictions put in place by India’s Indian and federal governments to combat the new outbreak.

Goldman expects gross domestic product (GDP) to shrink sequentially by 12.2% year-on-year in the three months to June. This is the first quarter of India’s fiscal year, which started on April 1 and ends on March 31, 2022. Last year, India fell into a technical recession after two consecutive quarters of contraction.

“Given that virus cases hit a new high of over 100,000 / day over the weekend and a number of states, including Maharashtra, are announcing stricter lockdown restrictions that are expected to widen in the coming weeks, we expect slower GDP growth second quarter than previously originally expected, “wrote Goldman analysts.

Record highs

Cases in India have risen since mid-February, with Maharashtra state – home of India’s financial capital Mumbai – being hit particularly hard. On Monday, India reported more than 103,000 new cases over a 24-hour period, beating September levels when the first wave of infections peaked.

On Tuesday, the South Asian nation reported 96,982 new cases, much of them in eight states, including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.

Maharashtra authorities tightened restrictions, including imposing curfews at night if only essential services remain open, as concerns grow over a possible shortage of hospital beds and doctors. Other states are also preventively increasing restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.

On the other hand, India has also stepped up its vaccination efforts. According to government data, the country has administered more than 84 million doses since Tuesday, since it launched its mass vaccination program in January.

Some analysts and investors have said the impact of the recent surge is likely to be limited in cases if India can avoid a strict national lockdown like last year.

Sharp upswing in the following quarters

Goldman expects activity to rebound strongly in the following quarters – July through September and beyond – as Indian containment policies normalize and the pace of vaccination accelerates. Still, the success of the April-June quarter is likely to affect India’s overall fiscal year growth forecast, which Goldman now expects to be 11.7%, compared to an earlier forecast of 12.3%.

However, the investment bank warned that the uncertainties surrounding its estimates remain high and the actual impact could be greater or lesser depending on how strict India’s containment policy is and whether it affects sectors such as construction and manufacturing.

The impact on GDP can potentially be cushioned by more targeted, localized restrictions on trouble spots, as opposed to a broad national lockdown like the one India put in place last year, which Goldman said had a significant socio-economic impact.

“Measures were also more targeted and targeted at service sectors such as leisure, leisure and transport, with no or little or no impact on agriculture, manufacturing, construction and utilities,” the analysts said, adding that the bank’s analysis suggested they get used to it more to a post-covid environment with a shift towards e-commerce and working from home Hence, their response to states’ containment policies is likely to be less sensitive.

Goldman also expects the Reserve Bank of India to keep its policy rate at 4% and maintain its accommodative stance and an ample liquidity environment for longer than expected.

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World News

Girls Name for India’s Chief Justice to Stop Over Remarks in Rape Circumstances

Women Call for India’s Chief Justice to Quit Over Remarks in Rape Cases

NEW DELHI – Indian outrage is growing over comments from the nation’s chief judge on two rape cases. Thousands of women signed a letter this week demanding his resignation.

Judge Sharad Arvind Bobde, the head of India’s Supreme Court, asked a 23-year-old man accused of raping a minor whether he would marry his victim, who is now an adult.

The victim, who cannot be identified under Indian law, accused the man, a distant relative and official of the Maharashtra state government, of repeatedly persecuting and raping her from the age of 16.

The judge’s comments sparked new demands that those in power, and especially men, do more to improve the treatment of women and girls in India.

A spate of shocking attacks in recent years has led women’s groups and other activists to change long-standing attitudes towards sexual violence.

Justice for victims is rare. Of the tens of thousands of rape cases reported annually in India, only a handful result in law enforcement, according to figures from the National Crime Records Bureau. Activists say the real scope of the problem is far worse, as many cases are never reported because of the stigma.

On Monday, Justice Bobde heard a petition from the defendant in the rape case for relief from a lower court prison order.

“Do you want to marry her?” Justice Bobde asked about Indian media reports.

“You should have thought before seducing and raping the young girl,” he added. “We’re not forcing you to marry. Let us know if you want. “

Activists said they were “appalled and outraged”.

“Your proposal to view marriage as a friendly solution to the case of the rape of an underage girl is worse than cruel and insensitive, as it profoundly undermines the victims’ right to seek justice,” the company said on Tuesday open letter.

Justice Bobde did not respond.

Sex with minors is a crime in India under the Child Protection from Sexual Offenses Act 2012. Mandatory sentences range from 10 years in prison to life imprisonment, and bail is rarely given.

According to court records, the families agreed that the man would marry the girl when she turned 18. The man later failed to keep his promise and married someone else. When the family filed a lawsuit against the man in 2019, a district court granted him early bail.

However, the Bombay Supreme Court overturned this ruling and wrote a scathing criticism of the lower court.

“Such an approach is a clear indication that the learned judge is completely lacking in competence,” the court wrote.

The defendant then turned to the Supreme Court. Justice Bobde and the other two members of the bank granted him four weeks of protection from arrest.

More than 4,000 women signed the letter calling for the Chief Justice to resign, including Anuradha Banerji, an activist with the Saheli women’s rights group.

“When the Chief Justice of India makes these archaic and patriarchal comments, it signals the deeper rot in both the judicial system and society,” Ms. Banerji said. “Millions of young girls will know that their values ​​are marriageability, not personality.”

The victim’s lawyer declined to comment on Friday.

In another case, Justice Bobde appeared to condone consensual rape, according to the letter and media reports.

“If two people live as husbands and wives, however brutal the husband may be, can sexual intercourse between them be called rape?” Justice Bobde asked upon hearing a petition filed by a man accused of rape by a woman who had been his life partner.

The excitement over the judge’s comments comes a month after another Bombay Supreme Court judge, Judge Pushpa Ganedivala, blocked her promotion after criticizing several of her sexual assault rulings.

Her decision in a child abuse case that groping for a minor without skin contact could not be described as sexual assault under the Child Protection Act sparked outrage. She acquitted the man who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old by a lower court. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling after the Indian Attorney General said he had set a dangerous precedent.

In two separate cases, Justice Ganedivala acquitted two other men accused of raping minors and said the victims’ statements were unreliable.

Following her rulings, a Supreme Court panel led by Justice Bobde overturned her decision to make her permanent judge on the Bombay Supreme Court.

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Business

India’s plan to divest state-owned corporations is ‘again on observe’, says high official

India's plan to divest state-owned companies is 'back on track', says top official

An Air India passenger flight prepares to land.

STR | NurPhoto | Getty Images

India is “back on track” in its efforts to divest state-owned companies after delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a top Treasury official.

The country has a divestment target of rupees 1.75 trillion (about $ 24 billion) for the next fiscal year, which begins April 1, said Treasury Secretary Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget announcement last month.

This means that the government is exiting itself by selling state-owned assets to the private sector or listing them on the stock exchange.

“In fact, there was a lot of prep work going on, but we had interruptions due to Covid. The divestment plan is back on track,” said Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary of Investment and Public Asset Management, in an interview on CNBC’s Streets “Signs Asia” on Tuesday.

“We have several transactions planned and we hope these deals continue this year,” he added.

In her budget speech, Sitharaman emphasized that the Indian government wants to privatize state-owned companies such as the national airline Air India and the oil and gas giant Bharat Petroleum Corporation, among others. It also proposed the privatization of two public sector banks and a general insurance company.

Although the aviation industry has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Pandey said the government is making progress on its privatization plan for Air India.

“The aviation industry is recovering quickly and Air India’s divestment plan has been on track for some time. We are moving forward with the expression of interest and the process is now in the second phase,” he noted.

According to Pandey, the Indian government intends to sell all of its stake in the national airline.

“The Air India divestment is 100%. That means the government has no stake in it,” he said, adding that the goal is to close the sale by June.

India’s ability to meet its divestment goal would also depend on the successful public offering of the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in India.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India last month relaxed public issuance norms to make it easier for the government to sell part of its stake in India’s largest insurer through a public listing. The IPO is expected this year.

“LIC is on target to go public. This is one of the largest financial institutions we have and work on it continues,” said Pandey.

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World News

Why India’s Farmers Are Protesting

Why India's Farmers Are Protesting

At least one protester was killed and 300 police officers injured after tens of thousands of farmers, including many tractors, took to the streets of New Delhi on Tuesday to demand the repeal of controversial new agricultural laws.

After months of sustained but peaceful demonstrations on the outskirts of the city, farmers staged the city’s Republic Day holiday, clashed with the police, destroyed barricades and stormed the Red Fort, a 400-year-old landmark. In addition to the police, many demonstrators were injured.

On Wednesday, the day after the chaos, the peasants had returned to their camps on the outskirts of the city and pledged to continue their protest and to walk back to the Indian parliament in the city on Monday.

Many of the protesting farmers belong to the Sikh religious minority and come from the states of Punjab and Haryana. Farmers in other parts of the country held solidarity rallies.

Since November, thousands of farmers have camped outside the capital New Delhi, kept vigil in sprawling tent cities and threatened to enter the country if the farm laws were not lifted.

The protest has exposed the dire reality of inequality across much of the country.

More than 60 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people are still largely dependent on agriculture, even though the sector accounts for only about 15 percent of the country’s economic output. Their dependency only increased after the coronavirus pandemic hit the urban economy hard and sent millions of workers back to their villages. Debt and bankruptcies have led to high suicide rates for years.

The protesters challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts to transform agriculture in India.

The protesters are calling for Mr. Modi to repeal recent agricultural laws, which would minimize the government’s role in agriculture and create more room for private investors. The government says the new laws will decouple farmers from private investment and bring growth. Farmers are skeptical, however, fearing that the removal of government protection, which they already believe to be insufficient, would turn them over to greedy companies.

Government support to farmers, which included guaranteed minimum prices for certain important crops, helped India overcome the hunger crisis of the 1960s. Since India has liberalized its economy in the past few decades, Modi, who wants the country’s economy to double by 2024, sees such a large role for the government as no longer sustainable.

However, farmers claim that despite the protection in place, they have problems. They say that market-friendly laws will ultimately eliminate regulatory support and leave it deprived as the weakened economy offers little chance of any other livelihood.

Thousands of protesting farmers flocked to New Delhi on Tuesday in what was expected as a peaceful protest during the holiday celebrations and a military parade overseen by the Prime Minister.

Some farmers broke off the main march and used tractors to dismantle police barriers. Many peasants carried long swords, tridents, sharp daggers, and battle axes – working, if largely ceremonial, weapons. Most protesters did not appear to be wearing masks despite the Covid-19 outbreak in India.

Police commanders deploy officers with assault rifles. They stood in the middle of the main streets and tear gas swirled around the crowd with their rifles. In some areas, video footage showed, police beat protesters with their batons to push them back.

Farmers claim the violence was fueled by the government and outside in order to derail their months of peaceful protests.

The peasants waved flags and mocked officers. They also broke through the Red Fort, the iconic palace that once served as the residence of the Mughal rulers of India, and hoisted a flag on the city walls that is often hoisted on Sikh temples.

Local TV channels showed farmers placing a protester’s body in the middle of a street. They claimed the man was shot dead, but police said he died when his tractor overturned.

The Indian government has temporarily suspended internet services in the areas that have been protesting for months, an interior ministry official confirmed.

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Business

Amazon’s ‘Tandav’ Present Angers India’s Hindu Nationalists

Amazon's 'Tandav' Show Angers India's Hindu Nationalists

NEW DELHI – Bollywood has once again fallen into the crosshairs of India’s nationalist Hindu ruling party – and major western streaming services like Amazon and Netflix are increasingly in the middle.

At the weekend, two separate criminal charges were filed with the police against the makers of “Tandav”, a new web series with a large budget on Amazon. The fast-paced political drama, which seems to borrow heavily from India’s political scene, could get awkwardly close to current events and the country’s major controversies.

The complainants, which include a politician from the ruling Bharatiya Janata party, have insisted that the government pull the series off the air or remove key scenes. Among other things, they accused the series of not respecting Hindu gods, disparaging members of individual castes and defiling the office of prime minister.

If the police believe the complaints are well founded, Amazon and the show’s organizers could be brought to a criminal court.

Ali Abbas Zafar, the director of “Tandav”, published a statement on his Instagram account on Monday that the show “is a fiction and any resemblance to actions, people and events is purely coincidental.” However, the statement states that the cast and crew “take note of the concerns expressed by the people and apologize unconditionally if it has inadvertently hurt the feelings of others.”

Officials at Amazon have refused to comment.

Show defenders say these complaints are excuses. The pressure on Amazon to drop the series is part of an increasingly intolerant atmosphere in India that even affects Bollywood, India’s film and entertainment industry. Actors, comedians, producers, artists, and anyone who dares even indirectly question the government can put their careers at risk, they say.

“If you take a stand, you have to pay a price,” said Sushant Singh, a Bollywood actor who has openly fought against several government policies. “You don’t even get surprised these days. And you don’t know how to react anymore. “

These attitudes complicate the ambitions of both Bollywood studios and large corporations to reach a large Indian audience with their laptops and smartphones. Like the Hollywood film industry, Bollywood has increasingly turned to streaming as pandemic restrictions hit the theater business.

Global companies are helping to provide the platforms for Indian viewers. Big streaming services like Amazon, Netflix and Hotstar, which are owned by Disney, have invested heavily in a country where they see great potential for growth.

But at times they got caught in the increasingly restrictive political environment in India.

Two months ago, an on-screen kiss put Netflix in a similar situation. Hindu nationalists were outraged that a series on Netflix showed a Hindu woman kissing a Muslim man in front of a Hindu temple – a scene in which Hindu nationalists felt several taboos were violated. The Hindu nationalists have urged authorities to investigate Netflix and called for a boycott. No charges were filed.

The real objection to “Tandav” may simply be that it is too real. The opening episode looks almost like a newsreel. It ranges from peasant protests to student protests to police killings – all events that have taken place in recent months under the government of Narendra Modi, India’s nationalist Hindu prime minister.

It does not shy away from sensitive topics. In one scene, a fictionalized Indian prime minister belittles a lower-caste politician and touches on the sensitive issue of the ancient Hindu social system.

Even the title of the episode is provocative. It’s called “dictator”.

“They are using abusive language and trying to defame the post of prime minister, which clearly points to our current prime minister,” said Ram Kadam, a BJP lawmaker who filed one of the criminal charges.

The authorities in Uttar Pradesh state, where many police officers were recently killed and led by one of the closest allies of Mr. Modi, a Hindu monk who has become prime minister, appear particularly offended. You said in a file with the local police that the Amazon series portrayed the post of prime minister “in a very indecent way.” On Monday, state officials warned that the filmmakers should “prepare for the arrest”.

In recent months, Mr. Modi’s party officials have stepped up pressure on some of the country’s most successful artists. Critics see this pressure as an attempt to suppress views that challenge the nationalist ideology of Hindus, who seek to turn India into an open Hindu state and marginalize non-Hindu minorities.

Drug authorities have persecuted leading actors on marijuana possession charges. A popular comedian was recently jailed for allegedly joking about Mr Modi’s right-wing husband, Amit Shah, despite the fact that authorities have failed to provide evidence that the comedian said what they claimed.

The pressure extends to other areas of life. An Indian airline pilot and distinguished military veteran was fired this month after tweeted that the prime minister was “an idiot”.

Indian cinema tends to be culturally conservative, with sex scenes and profanity being discouraged by Indian censorship. Until recently, however, online content in India fell into a gray area.

In November, the Indian government ruled that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, currently headed by Prakash Javadekar, a close ally of Mr. Modi, has the power to regulate online content.

Hindu nationalists are now calling on the government to intervene.

Online broadcasts are “full of sex, violence, drugs, abuse, hatred and vulgarity,” wrote Manoj Kotak, a BJP lawmaker, recently in a letter to Mr. Javadekar. He concluded his letter by asking the minister to set up a regulator for online content and “in the meantime to ban the controversial web series ‘Tandav'”.