India may not resume Covid vaccine supply to Covax until Q4: Experts

India is unlikely to resume Covid-19 vaccine supply to the UN-backed Covax vaccine sharing facility until the October-December quarter, people aware of the matter told ET, writes Teena Thacker. Indian experts alerted the Covax group about this during a meeting on Friday, the people said.

“Keeping in view the domestic demand, we will not be able to supply doses to the Covax facility till the situation improves in India,” a senior government official told ET, referring to the discussions at Friday’s meeting. India is giving priority to the local vaccination drive, the official said. “We have a large population which has to be inoculated and hence at this point in time we won’t be able to provide any supplies.”

Deliveries of the Covid vaccine produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) to lower-income economies participating in the Covax vaccine sharing facility have been facing delays since March.