NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A program supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide coronavirus vaccines to the poorest countries expects the Serum Institute of India (SII) to resume full deliveries of the injected AstraZeneca in May, said the UNICEF on Saturday. .
“Deliveries of the SII / AZ vaccine are expected to start all over again in May, with recovery deliveries to reach each participant’s total allocation by May, accelerating thereafter,” a UNICEF spokesman told Reuters by email.
The spokeswoman added that the program, known as COVAX, was in talks with New Delhi to guarantee “some supply” also in April. COVAX expected a total of 90 million doses of SII in March and April, of which it has already received around 28 million.
UNICEF is the distributor partner for the program, run with the GAVI vaccine alliance.
India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, said on Friday it would make domestic vaccines for COVID-19 a priority as infections increase, and informed international buyers of its decision.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that India’s decision was “understandable”, but that WHO was in negotiations to continue supplying doses to other countries.
So far, COVAX has distributed 32 million doses of vaccines to 61 countries, but 36 countries are still waiting for vaccines to start vaccines, Tedros said.
Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Frances Kerry edition