NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The launch in India of a new COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by the Serum Institute of India and the American biotechnology company Novavax is expected to be postponed until September, the head of the Indian company said on Saturday.
Adar Poonawalla, Serum’s chief executive, said in January that the vaccine, dubbed Corovax, was scheduled to be launched in June.
On Saturday, Poonawalla said Corovax testing began in India, but did not say why the vaccine’s launch was delayed.
“It has been tested against African and British variants of # COVID19 and has an overall effectiveness of 89%,” tweeted Poonawalla, whose Serum Institute is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.
“I hope to launch in September 2021!”
Poonawalla said earlier this month that a temporary US ban on exports of critical raw materials could limit the production of vaccines against coronavirus, such as Novavax.
India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, said on Friday that it would prioritize domestic inoculations of COVID-19 amid growing cases of coronavirus and communicated its decision to international buyers.
The South Asian country, which exported 60.5 million farms, did not ban exports at once.
India injected 58.1 million doses of vaccine, the third highest number after the United States and Brazil, although much smaller compared to its population of 1.35 billion.
On Saturday, former Indian cricket captain Sachin Tendulkar said he had contracted the coronavirus, as the country reported 62,258 new infections in the previous 24 hours, its highest daily rate since October, reaching 11.91 million.
The death toll in the pandemic increased by 291 to 161,240.
Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Jan Harvey