By Sanjeev Miglani
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will launch COVID-19 vaccines from Wednesday, paving the way for many middle- and lower-income countries to obtain supplies of the drug Oxford / AstraZeneca, which they say is planned. to send millions of doses in a matter of days.
Serum Institute of India (SII), the largest vaccine producer in the world, told Reuters last week that it was expecting emergency use from the World Health Organization (WHO) for the vaccine, which was licensed by SII.
The Foreign Ministry said the delivery would begin on Wednesday following requests from ‘neighboring and important partner countries’. Officials said the first doses would go to Bhutan and the Maldives.
Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and the Seychelles will also receive supplies in the first phase of this week, the ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry in Bangladesh has said it will receive a two million dose gift on Thursday. The country of 160 million, which has yet to begin its vaccination program, has ordered another 30 million doses, officials said.
The vast majority of the production of the three approved COVID vaccines worldwide has so far been whipped up by developing countries, which worries the WHO and elsewhere that poorer countries may have a long wait for supplies.
The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is widely regarded as their best option, as the other two, manufactured by Pfizer / BioNTech and by Moderna, need to be stored at very low temperatures.
WHO’s emergency permit for the Astra-Oxford vaccine will also allow SII to start delivering it to the WHO-supported COVAX initiative aimed at spreading COVID-19 shots around the world.
India, which has the second highest COVID caseload in the world, has said it needs to balance its local needs with international demands.
Shots of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as another developed by Bharat Biotech, were given to domestic health workers on Saturday.
The country plans to start exporting Bharat Biotech’s vaccine later.
The Foreign Ministry said that the supply of Astra-Oxford vaccine to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius would begin soon after the countries’ regulators removed the drug.
Pakistan is alone among the neighbors of India, where it does not intend to send vaccines, and a government in New Delhi has said no request has come from it.
(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani, Additional Reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Euan Rocha, Alexander Smith and John Stonestreet)