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The world’s largest vaccine maker, the Serum Institute of India, has urged other countries to be “patient” with the supply of coronavirus vaccines, saying it has been instructed to prioritize its local market.
“Dear countries and governments, as you wait for the #COVISHIELD supplies, I humbly ask you to be patient,” Serum boss Adar Poonawalla tweeted on Sunday.
“@SerumInstIndia has been instructed to prioritize the enormous needs of India and, along with that balance, the needs of the rest of the world. We are doing our best.”
Serum, from its extensive facilities in Pune, western India, is producing hundreds of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Many countries around the world, especially the poorest countries, rely heavily on the company for the supply of the vaccine, and it has already shipped millions of doses abroad.
The Serum Institute also plans to supply 200 million doses to Covax, an effort supported by the World Health Organization to purchase and distribute vaccines to poor countries.
Poonawalla did not say who had told the company to prioritize India, or if the instructions were new.
India’s goal of inoculating 300 million people by July is far behind schedule, with just over 11 million injections administered so far.
However, the problems are believed to be due more to not enough people showing up for the vaccines than to problems with the vaccine supply. -French Media Agency
