10m UK-bound Indian AstraZeneca vaccine doses being held up ‘by Indian government’ as domestic cases surge

India's programme has so far been limited to those over the age of 60 and those over the age of 45 with comorbidities

Credit: ARUN SANKAR /AFP

The United Kingdom’s vaccination efforts will be paralysed from next month because the Indian Government is temporarily holding exports, according to the CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII), Adar Poonawalla, whose company is manufacturing the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine.

“It is solely dependent on India and it has nothing to do with the SII. It is to do with the Indian Government allowing more doses to the UK,” Mr Poonawalla told the Telegraph, who confirmed that five million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine had already been delivered to the UK in early March.

The second batch of five million further doses that the SII has pledged to the UK will only be delivered once the company was given the green light by New Delhi, which is deliberating how to slow a concerning resurgence in new daily Covid-19 cases, according to a source.

In addition to debating whether to implement new localised lockdowns, the Indian Government is considering whether it needs to stockpile more vaccines to expand its vaccination programme which has so far been limited to those over the age of 60 and those over the age of 45 with comorbidities.

British MPs’ criticism of the Indian Government’s alleged use of force against peacefully protesting farmers was not behind the delay, according to a source, with exports to other countries also being held.

Coronavirus India Spotlight Chart — Cases default

The SII would still commit to delivering the remaining five million doses as soon as possible, a source told the Daily Telegraph, and this commitment would not “take months.”

"There was never a commitment to supplying doses to the UK in any stipulated time. We just said we will offer our help," said Mr Poonawalla.

It was waiting for a directive from a “cautious” Indian Government and did not want to anger New Delhi, which was requesting more vaccine doses than the SII had initially allocated, according to an interview Mr Poonawalla gave to Bloomberg on Wednesday.

“We had to dedicate a lot of our capacity, which was not originally planned for India. We’re trying to balance it out as much as possible, but again for the first few months we have been directed to prioritize supplies to India and certain other countries that have a high disease burden,” said Mr Poonawalla.

India has spearheaded the Covid-19 global vaccination drive, with at least 58 million “Made in India” doses being distributed to 66 countries, including 16 million doses for the Covax global vaccine sharing scheme.

While public health experts have showered the country with praise for its selfless approach, the Indian Government has come under growing pressure domestically to stockpile vaccines so that doses can be rolled out for its entire population.

The Daily Telegraph contacted the Indian Ministry of Health for comment but they did not reply in time to go to print."