An AstraZeneca vaccine production line.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The world’s largest producer of vaccines by volume, the Serum Institute of India, was instructed to meet domestic demand for Covid-19 vaccines first – before distributing them abroad.
The move implies that foreign governments may face delays in company orders, as it puts India’s needs ahead of others.
“Dear countries and governments, while waiting for supplies from #COVISHIELD, I humbly ask you to be patient,” tweeted CEO Adar Poonawalla.
He said the Serum Institute of India (SII) “was directed to prioritize India’s enormous needs and, in conjunction with that, to balance the needs of the rest of the world. We are trying our best.”
Poonawalla did not elaborate on who gave the directive.
The SII declined to comment further on Poonawalla’s tweet when contacted by CNBC.
Covishield
The Serum Institute is manufacturing the vaccine developed by the Swedish-British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which is known locally as Covishield.
It is one of two vaccines that have received emergency approval to be used in India’s mass vaccination campaign, which aims to vaccinate around 300 million people in the first phase, most of them frontline workers and those over 50 or in high-risk groups.
The other vaccine that received emergency approval was developed locally by Bharat Biotech in India. It was created in collaboration with the state-run Indian Medical Research Council and has received emergency use authorization as clinical trials continue.
Since the start of the vaccination campaign in January, India has vaccinated more than 10.8 million people by February 20, according to the government. The number of daily vaccinations is expected to increase in the coming months.
An army health worker prepares a dose of Covishield, the AstraZeneca / Oxford Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India, at an army hospital in Colombo on January 29, 2021.
ishara S. Kodikara | AFP | Getty Images
Covishield also received the list of emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO) this month, allowing it to be provided to low and middle income countries around the world.
AstraZeneca said it expects more than 300 million doses to be made available to 145 countries in the first half of 2021 through Covax, a global vaccination initiative led by WHO and others.
Covishield is cheaper compared to some of the other vaccines in use – such as those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. It also does not need to be stored in ultra-low temperatures, which makes it suitable for use in many developing countries that lack the necessary storage infrastructure.