Exclusive: India delays big exports of AstraZeneca shot, as infections surge – Reuters

Exclusive: India delays big exports of AstraZeneca shot, as infections surge – Reuters

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has put a temporary hold on all major exports of the AstraZeneca coronavirus shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine-maker, to meet domestic demand as infections rise, two sources told Reuters.FILE PHOTO: Boxes of some of the first 500,000 of the 2-million AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine doses that Canada has secured through a deal with the Serum Institute of India in partnership with Verity Pharma at a facility in Milton, Ontario, Canada March 3, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio/File PhotoThe move will also affect supplies to the GAVI/WHO-backed global COVAX vaccine-sharing facility, through which 64 poorer countries are supposed to get doses from the SII, the programme's procurement and distributing partner UNICEF told Reuters.Deliveries will be delayed in March and April "as the government of India battles a new wave of COVID-19 infections," GAVI, an alliance of countries, companies and charities that promote vaccination, said in a statement here.COVAX was in talks with India to “ensure some supplies are completed during March and April,” it said, adding that the SII had supplied 28 million doses to COVAX. An additional 40 million doses had been expected in March and up