Serum Institute to export Covid-19 vaccine to 25-30 countries on Tuesday

Bharat Bio says keen to follow, have capacity of 40 mn doses a month

The first shipment of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines by Serum Institute of India (SII) will leave for 25-30 countries under the Covax arrangement by Tuesday, said a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official. 

Speaking at a webinar on Monday, Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at WHO, said, “By tomorrow (Tuesday), the first shipments from India would go out from Serum Institute to 25-30 countries. Then, we hope that this will be followed by other vaccines that would be made in India.”

Discouraging vaccine nationalism, Swaminathan said that manufacturers need to prioritise Covax to bilateral deals. “What we see today is kind of the opposite, that