(UTV | COLOMBO) – The South African Government has asked drugmaker Serum Institute of India (SII) to take back the 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccines it had sent in early February, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday (16), a week after the country suspended the use of the shot after preliminary studies suggested limited effectiveness against the more contagious local variant of the Virus.
Last week, South Africa halted plans to roll out the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after a preliminary study suggested that the shot provides “Minimal protection” against mild disease from the more contagious variant of the virus spreading in the country. This decision was made despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) giving emergency approval to the shot allowing it to be rolled out in several poorer nations. The AstraZeneca-Oxford shot is currently being rolled out in large scale across several countries including the United Kingdom (UK), India and it has also been approved for emergency use by the Australian Government.
SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has emerged as a key supplier of the AstraZeneca shot around the world. Even the UK, which is home to AstraZeneca, is reportedly auditing SII’s sites for future orders of the vaccine amid a crunch in supplies. Last year, SII inked a deal with AstraZeneca to manufacture a billion doses of the Oxford vaccine for India and lower- and middle-income countries during the pandemic and sell it at the cost of production. The firm has a similar license manufacturing deal for Novavax’s vaccine candidate and is also developing its own vaccine.
Source: Forbes