The GAVI Vaccine Alliance wants the Serum Institute of India (SII) to resume AstraZeneca’s exports Coronavirus disease It told Reuters that it will start producing vaccines this quarter, which will be earlier than the Indian company’s “end of this year” forecast.
GAVI co-leads the COVAX facility to equitably distribute the COVID-19 vaccine globally. COVAX suffered a huge impact in April, when the large vaccine manufacturer India stopped all overseas shipments to meet local demand because the number of infections rose sharply.
The coronavirus crisis in India has now eased, and the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer SII’s AstraZeneca drug production has also increased, but domestic demand has also increased.
“We still hope that SII delivery will resume in the third quarter, but at this stage it cannot be confirmed,” a GAVI spokesperson said in an email late on Tuesday.
“At the same time, COVAX has been actively implementing its strategy of diversifying its product portfolio. In the past month alone, it has obtained more than 1 billion additional doses through direct procurement or through dose sharing.”
SII did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A source close to SII said that the company is currently focusing on supplying products to India. it says In May, it hopes to “start delivery to COVAX and other countries at the end of this year.”
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to Reuters’ inquiries.
The Minister of Health of Bangladesh told reporters on Tuesday that SII may start to supply it again in August. The country has made a comeback due to infections, receiving only 7 million doses out of the 30 million doses ordered from the company.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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