South Africa’s hope of securing an order for 1.4 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine designed by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford from an Indian company may have been dashed by an export ban imposed by the Asian country’s government. , Business Day reported. citing unidentified people.
Until Monday, South Africa was confident it had secured the order from the Serum Institute of India, which is producing the vaccine under license, the Johannesburg newspaper said. Negotiations are now being conducted directly with the Indian government, said two people familiar with the situation, according to the newspaper.
The South African government is under increasing pressure from health leaders, opposition parties and labor unions for not signing direct vaccine supply agreements with pharmaceutical companies. Although she signed up with Covax, an initiative that aims to guarantee equitable access to vaccines, she will only start taking vaccines for 10% of her population of 60 million people in the second quarter.
South Africa, the country most hit by the coronavirus in Africa, has between 700,000 and 1 million health workers, depending on how they are classified, according to Stavros Nicolaou, head of the B4SA health working group, a business alliance .