NEW DELHI (AP) – India will not allow the export of Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for several months, said the head of India’s Serum Institute, which has been hired by manufacture 1 billion doses of the vaccine for developing countries. .
With rich nations reserving most of the vaccines that will be made this year, the Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine maker, is likely to do most of the inoculations for developing countries. The export ban, however, means poorer nations will likely have to wait a few months before receiving the first shots.
The vaccine received emergency authorization by the Indian regulator on Sunday, but on the condition that the Serum Institute does not export the shots to ensure the protection of India’s vulnerable populations, Adar Poonawalla, the company’s general manager, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
He said the company has also been banned from selling the vaccine on the private market.
“At the moment, we can only give (the vaccines) to the government of India,” said Poonawalla, who added that the decision was also made to avoid hoarding.
As a result, he said, he won the export of COVAX vaccines, an ambitious initiative created to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines created by the World Health Organization, the GAVI and CEPI vaccine alliance. , a global coalition to fight epidemics. We will start until March or April.
Poonawalla said Serum Institute was in the process of signing a larger contract with COVAX for 300-400 million doses of the vaccine. Apart from two existing orders of 100 million doses each for the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and another from Novovax. He said the deal would be finalized in the coming weeks.
He said the first 100 million doses of the vaccine were sold to the Indian government at a “special price” of 200 rupees ($ 2.74) per dose, after which prices would be higher. The vaccine will be sold on the private market at 1,000 rupees ($ 13.68) per dose. He said the vaccines could be delivered to Indian states where they were needed within seven to ten days after the company finalized an agreement with the government of India.
Poonawalla said his company planned to give 200 to 300 million doses of the vaccine to COVAX in December 2021. He acknowledged that the company should balance the distribution of vaccines between India and COVAX.
“We can’t vaccinate everyone right now. We can prioritize, ”he said.
The Serum Institute is also negotiating bilateral agreements with individual countries such as Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, Poonawalla said. “So that at least the most vulnerable in the states of our country or other parts of other countries are cared for,” he said.
Poonawalla said that even if all plans from different global vaccine manufacturers are successful, he still predicts a global shortage of coronavirus vaccines over the next year.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.