Coronavirus: Asian nations seek vaccine supplies after India suspends exports; Vietnam sentences man for spreading virus
- After India put a temporary hold on shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine to meet rising domestic demand, China and Russia are poised to step into the breach
- Both the Philippines and Indonesia are currently relying heavily on vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech to run their inoculation drives
South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines are among countries to be hit by shipment delays to vaccines they have been promised under the Covax programme, which was created mainly to ensure supplies for poorer countries.
“Our planned increase in daily vaccinations will be affected,” Carlito Galvez, Philippines’ vaccination chief, told reporters.
India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, put a temporary hold on exports of AstraZeneca’s vaccine being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), as officials focus on meeting rising domestic demand.
The Serum Insitute was due to deliver 90 million vaccine doses to Covax over March and April and, while it was not immediately clear how many would be diverted for domestic use, programme facilitators warned that shipment delays were inevitable.
South Korea confirmed it would only receive 432,000 doses of the 690,000 it had been promised and delivery of those would be delayed until around the third week of April.
“There’s uncertainty over global vaccine supplies but we’re working on a plan to ensure no disruptions in the second quarter and making efforts to secure more vaccines,” Kim Ki-nam, head of South Korea’s Covid-19 vaccination task force team. Officials said they were in talks with AstraZeneca to accelerate shipments procured through a separate deal.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte loosened government restrictions on private sector imports of vaccines, pleading with companies to obtain supplies no matter the cost, as his country battles a resurgence of the pandemic.