Posted by Michael Wonder on 07 Jan 2021
Most governments are not yet on track to hit their vaccine roll-out targets
6 January 2021 - Some countries aim to inoculate millions of people a day. So far, most are falling short.
On 3 January, India’s medicines regulator approved the emergency use of two COVID-19 vaccines, giving the green light to the shot developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, as well as a home-grown offering dubbed “Covaxin” from Bharat Biotech, based in Hyderabad.
But there was a catch: according to Adar Poonawalla, the boss of the Serum Institute of India, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, approval of the Astrazeneca-Oxford vaccine was contingent on the company not exporting any doses abroad for several months in order to prioritise vulnerable Indians, 300 million of whom the country hopes to vaccinate by July. Serum had already promised 200 million doses to COVAX, a scheme to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries.
