India’s Serum Institute dispatches first COVAX vaccines

NEW DELHI, India — The Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, sent out on Tuesday its first batch of vaccine shots for the COVAX global inoculation program.

The global vaccine procurement and equitable distribution effort aims to secure vaccines for at least the most vulnerable 20 percent in every country.

COVAX, led by the World Health Organization and the GAVI alliance, has struck agreements with manufacturers for two billion doses in 2021 and has the option for another billion.

This includes 1.1 billion doses from the Serum Institute, which is producing the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines.

The Philippines last month inked a term sheet with the institute for 30 million doses of the Novavax vaccine Covovax.

WHO Southeast Asia tweeted photos of the first shipments being loaded onto a truck at Serum's manufacturing facility in Pune in western India.

Serum has already supplied the Indian government with millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as well as other poorer nations.

The company's head Adar Poonawalla on Sunday urged other countries to be "patient," saying it had been instructed to prioritize its home market over exports. — Agence France-Presse