Delhi has temporarily suspended all major exports of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to meet domestic demand as diseases increase.
The move, originally reported by Reuters, will affect supply to the Gavi / WHO-backed Covax vaccine sharing facility through which more than 180 countries are expected to receive doses, one source said.
The UK has only received half of the 10m doses it ordered from the SII, leading to warnings that their vaccination program may need to slow down. The UK is also facing threats from tighter EU export controls on doses made there.
The reported Indian decision is the latest twist in the increasingly tense and sometimes misleading story about the SII’s involvement in making the AstraZeneca vaccine.
There has been a lack of transparency on issues with the institution’s priorities for provision, as well as issues with production, which have emerged in leaks, anonymous briefings and sometimes conflicting statements.
Vaccine exports from India do not appear to have stopped since last Thursday, according to a foreign ministry website, as the country expands its own vaccination effort.
“Everything else has taken a backstage, for the time being at least,” one of the sources told Reuters. “No exports, nothing until India’s position is stable. The government will not take such an opportunity right now when so many vaccines are needed in India. “
Both sources had direct knowledge of the matter but declined to be named as the talks are not public.
India’s foreign ministry and SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
India has detected a “double mutant mutation” of the coronavirus in 206 samples in the worst western state in Maharashtra, a senior government official said Wednesday.
The variant was also found in nine samples in the capital, Delhi, director of the National Center for Disease Control Sujeet Kumar Singh, told a news conference.
In the last few days, India has been on the move to boost its slow coronavirus vaccination program. This week SII told Brazil, Morocco and Saudi Arabia that further supply of the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine would be delayed, according to the Times of India, citing a letter from the president at the institution.
Adar Poonawalla, the company’s 40-year-old boss, is said to have written to Brazil saying that a fire in January at one of its manufacturing facilities had “sadly” caused “obstacles” and would not able for the institution to fulfill commitments. Similar communications were sent to Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
Last month, Poonawalla tweeted that the institute was “driven to prioritize the great needs of India and along with that balance the needs of the rest of the world. We’re trying our best. “
Initially, Poonawalla had voted to make 1.5bn doses by the end of the year, claiming its company could produce between 40-50% of world supply.
The SII has partnerships with AstraZeneca, the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance to produce up to 1bn doses for poor countries.
However, Covax has so far received 17.7m AstraZeneca doses from SII, of which 60.5m doses have been completely exported by India.
Boris Johnson sent his close friend Sir Eddie Lister to India as part of the UK government’s efforts to secure millions of doses of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine.
India Program of »vaccination matrixSome have (locally) suggested (vaccination relationship), in which he sold or gave more coronavirus vaccines than were given at home, as a diplomatic success.
However, with the country Reporting the largest number of coronavirus diseases after the U.S. and Brazil, the government was also criticized for exporting valuable products. India is in the midst of a second rise in cases, bringing its total to around 11.6 million.