COVAX will be getting 240 million doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine from SII and 96 million doses from AstraZeneca under the advance purchase agreement between Gavi and the vaccine makers. SII has agreed to supply COVID-19 vaccine at $ 3 per dose.
(Source: Reuters)
India will be getting 97.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVAX facility in the first half of 2021, indicated COVAX’s interim distribution plan, published on February 3.
Much of the doses committed by COVAX will be coming from Serum Institute of India (SII), which has licensing agreement with AstraZeneca-Oxford University for manufacturing and distributing the vaccine in India and other low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
COVAX will be getting 240 million doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine from SII and 96 million doses from AstraZeneca under the Gavi’s advance purchase agreement with the vaccine maker.
SII has agreed to supply COVID-19 vaccine at $ 3 per dose. AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine has not yet been granted emergency use license by the WHO. COVAX said the evaluation processes are currently underway.
The COVAX will also distribute 1.2 million doses of Pfizer vaccine in the first vaccine distribution round estimated to begin late February, depending on WHO’s emergency-use licence.
According to the distribution plan, the COVAX facility, which is co-led by Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the UN Children’s Fund, will cover at least 3 percent of total populations of 145 countries in the first half of the year, enough to protect the most vulnerable groups such as healthcare workers.
Viswanath Pilla is a business journalist with 14 years of reporting experience. Based in Mumbai, Pilla covers pharma, healthcare and infrastructure sectors for Moneycontrol.
