NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A World Health Organization (WHO) backed program to deliver coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries expects the Serum Institute of India (SII) to resume full deliveries of the AstraZeneca in May, UNICEF said Saturday. .
“SII / AZ vaccine deliveries are expected to resume full deliveries in May, with catch-up deliveries reaching full allocation of each participant through May, then accelerated thereafter,” a UNICEF spokeswoman told Reuters in an email. .
The spokeswoman added that the program, known as COVAX, was in talks with New Delhi to secure “some supplies” in April as well. COVAX expected a total of 90 million doses of SII in March and April, of which it received approximately 28 million.
UNICEF is the distribution partner of the program, which is run with the GAVI vaccine alliance.
India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, said Friday it would make domestic COVID-19 vaccinations a priority as infections increase, and had notified international buyers of its decision.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that India’s decision was “understandable” but WHO was in talks so it would continue to provide doses to other countries.
So far, COVAX has delivered 32 million doses of vaccine to 61 countries, but 36 countries are still waiting for vaccines to start vaccinations, Tedros said.
Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Frances Kerry