UN health agency in talks with India about Covid-19 vaccine export: WHO chief

India, the world's biggest vaccine maker, said earlier on Friday it would make domestic Covid-19 inoculations a priority as infections surge and had told international buyers of its decision.

India's decision to make domestic Covid-19 inoculations a priority is "understandable" as the country's infections rise, but the World Health Organization (WHO) is in talks so it continues providing doses to other countries, the WHO chief said on Friday.

WHO is still struggling to persuade countries to abandon their nationalistic tendencies and help get vaccines where they’re needed most. (AP)

India, the world's biggest vaccine maker, said earlier on Friday it would make domestic Covid-19 inoculations a priority as infections surge and had told international buyers of its decision.

"It is not an export ban from India as far as we know," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "We are already in discussion to keep a balance so that they can use locally but at the same time continue to provide other countries vaccines from the Serum Institute of India."