NEW DELHI (Reuters) – World Health Organization (WHO) -supported program to deliver coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries expects Serum Institute of India (IBS) to resume full gun deliveries AstraZeneca in May, UNICEF said Saturday.
“SII / AZ vaccine deliveries are expected to begin completely again in May, with recovery deliveries to reach full allocation for all participants by May, accelerating thereafter,” a spokeswoman for UNICEF to Reuters in an email.
The spokeswoman added that the program, known as COVAX, was in talks with New Delhi to ensure “some supply” also in April. COVAX expected a total of 90 million doses of IBS in March and April, of which it has received about 28 million.
UNICEF is the distributor partner of the program, which runs with the GAVI vaccine alliance.
India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, said on Friday it would make domestic COVID-19 inoculations a priority as infections increase and communicated its decision to international buyers.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that India’s decision was “understandable”, but that the WHO was in talks, so it continues to provide doses to other countries.
To date, COVAX has administered 32 million vaccine doses to 61 countries, but 36 countries are still waiting for vaccines to start vaccinations, Tedros said.
Reports by Krishna N. Das; Edited by Frances Kerry