UK looks to ease lockdown amid vaccine supply delay from India

BRITAIN will have to wait for fresh shipments of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines as its manufacturer in India has been asked to prioritise the needs of that country first.

A spokesperson for the Serum Institute of India (SII) said, “Five million doses had been delivered a few weeks ago to the UK and we will try to supply more later, based on the current situation and requirement for the government immunisation programme in India".

In a letter to local vaccination centres NHS England warned that doses will be "significantly constrained" from March 29 for four weeks.

The next phase of the inoculation campaign, covering people in their 40s, will have to be suspended until May, the letter said.

However, ministers insisted yesterday (18) that Britain’s plan to ease coronavirus lockdowns in the coming months remains on track.

Prime minister Boris Johnson - who plans to visit India next month – has denied there was any export ban in place by the government in New Delhi, as it grapples with its own surge in Covid-19 cases.

"The Indian government hasn't stopped any exports. There is a delay, as there is very frequently in vaccination programmes," he told a news conference, thanking the institute for its "heroic" performance so far.

Health secretary Matt Hancock earlier said supply constraints were compounded by the need for Britain to retest a batch of 1.7 million doses already received.

But he insisted to parliament: "To any member of the public who is watching, what I would say very clearly is that the vaccination programme is on track to meet the targets that we have set out."

The government said it was sticking to its target of offering a first dose to every adult by the end of July.

Last month, the institute’s CEO, Adar Poonawalla, urged other countries to be patient as they wait for the supplies of Covid-19 vaccine, as he said the company was directed to prioritise the needs of India.

“Dear countries and governments, as you await #COVISHIELD supplies, I humbly request you to please be patient, @SerumInstIndia has been directed to prioritise the huge needs of India and along with that balance the needs of the rest of the world. We are trying our best," Poonawalla had said in a tweet. The vaccine is marketed as Covishield in India.

Hancock said jabs from a third approved supplier, Moderna, are expected "in the coming weeks".

More than half of all adults in England have had their first COVID-19 vaccine. For the United Kingdom as a whole, just under half of adults have had their first dose.