UK PM Johnson says Indian government not behind Covid vaccine supply delay

Boris Johnson said on Thursday that a delay in the supply of COVID-19 vaccine from the SII in India to Britain was due to technical issues and not because of any intervention by the Indian government

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that a delay in the supply of COVID-19 vaccine from the Serum Institute in India to Britain was due to technical issues and not because of any intervention by the Indian government.

"I want to thank the Serum Institute of India for their heroic role in producing huge quantities of vaccine," Johnson said at a news conference in Downing Street in response to a question about whether there was "vaccine nationalism" at play on the Indian side.

"There is a delay ... as there is very frequently in vaccine rollout programmes," he said.

Pressed on whether the Indian government had stopped exports of vaccine to Britain, Johnson said: "No, no, there is a delay as there often is, caused for various technical reasons, but we hope to continue to work very closely with the Serum Institute, and indeed with partners around the world including on the European continent."

 

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Estelle Shirbon; editing by Michael Holden)