India looks set to put a temporary hold on all major exports of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to meet demand at home as infections surge.
On Tuesday, the Indian Union cabinet decided that all people above 45 years of age can get a COVID-19 vaccine from April 1. The announcement came amidst a second wave of the pandemic hitting several parts of the country.
A day later, highly-placed sources said on Wednesday that the Indian government has also decided that it will not be “expanding” the export of vaccines over the next couple of months, The Wire reported.
All the pending orders will get delivered, but new inquiries will not be accepted for several months. It is being done to allow India to have adequate supplies to cope with the expansion in the domestic vaccination program, amid the surge in cases.
Sources added that an assessment of the export policy would be done after two to three months about whether to restart taking new orders.
The reported move has added further uncertainty about vaccination campaign in Nepal. Nepal started her campaign with one million doses of Covishield (AstraZeneca) vaccine donated by India and later bought another million doses of the vaccine. The government has placed orders for another one million doses but the manufacturer Serum, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, has yet to deliver the doses.
There had been earlier reports that Serum has informed Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco that further supplies of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be delayed due to surging demand at home and as it works through a capacity expansion.
