Good morning Quartz readers,
For years, India has made and exported more vaccines than any other country. Yet its vaccination drive against Covid-19, which began in early January, is stumbling and faltering.
To this observation, the most obvious response is that India’s population is huge and scattered, that reaching 1.39 billion people is a complicated, time-consuming task. True enough, though the government’s mode of vaccine delivery—its maze of crashing apps, differential pricing, unclear messaging, and patchy record-keeping—is still cause for worry. But the real problem is the alarming shortage of vaccines. This week, India opened up vaccinations to over-18s, but most states didn’t have enough stock to offer shots. Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer, has warned that the supply crunch will continue for another three months.
On the ground, people are being turned away from vaccination centers because the shots are out of stock. In Mumbai, the city corporation suspended vaccinations altogether for three days. Other states postponed their plans to vaccinate citizens aged 18-45. As of this week, only 28.9 million Indians had received both their doses. Around 200 million are awaiting their second shot, and 600 million are eligible for their first one.
Why is India, the vaccine factory to the world, unable to find enough vaccines for its own people? There is no single answer, but tracking events over the past year reveals a timeline of dysfunction: a period in which government negligence, corporate profiteering, opaque contracting, and the inequities of the global pharma market combined to bring India to this moment of vaccine crisis. Millions of Indians are relying on global awareness of their situation before progress can be made. Get some conversations going this weekend after spending 15 minutes with Samanth Subramanian’s tick-tock of a vaccine rollout gone wrong.
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The purpose of a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is to acquire an as-yet unidentified private company, taking it public through the merger process. SPACs were all the rage this year, but nobody thinks the SPAC mania can continue the way it has.
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The wrong man for the job. The pairing of charismatic Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin and the Romanov family, led by Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, the last monarchs to rule over Russia, has embedded itself into legend precisely because it was so explosively disastrous. Time and counsel could have turned the young, unprepared Romanovs into effective heads of state. Instead, they put their faith in a drunk sex addict. Stumble through history with the Quartz Weekly Obsession.
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How to master the art of connecting and networking. The internet promised to bring us closer together, but building networks and authentic professional relationships in many ways seem harder than ever. In our next virtual workshop, we’ll hear from experts on where to find people who can help you in your career, the art of reaching out, and ways to pay things forward. Whether you’re looking for a mentor, a job referral, an “in” at a prospective employer, or a connection with curious-minded people like yourself, you will find something to learn in this workshop. Join us May 13 from 11am-12pm US eastern time.
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The unlikely yet eerie similarity between Mao and Modi. As India’s Covid-19 crisis continues, so does the ruling government’s fixation on state strength and the cult of Modi. Writing for the Indian Express, Brown University social sciences professor Ashutosh Varshney draws on political history to tug at the common thread between right-wing and left-wing regimes: the indifference to mass suffering. But Varshney observes that despite historical similarities, Narendra Modi differs greatly from Mao Zedong in that left-wing governments use violence to serve the poor—and in Modi’s India, that doesn’t seem to be the case. —Manavi Kapur, Quartz India reporter
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Our best wishes for a relaxing but thought-filled weekend. Please send any news, comments, IPO alternatives, and girl band stamps to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Weekend Brief was brought to you by Liz Webber.