India tells overseas vaccine buyers it must prioritise local need

India’s health minister says the country is expanding its vaccination campaign to battle surging COVID cases.

India, the world’s biggest vaccine producer, has said it would prioritise its domestic rollout of coronavirus shots as it battles against a surging second wave of the virus. “In the coming weeks and months … obviously there will be a demand spike and obviously people are preparing for it,” India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Friday at the Times Network’s India Economic Enclave. “In many cases, we have told our international partners that … COVID rates are going up in India, we are expanding our own vaccination ambit, so we are sure you will understand that at this time we have to purpose it much more focused at where we are,” he added.