British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on Wednesday served a legal notice to Adar Poonawalla's Serum Institue of India in Pune over delays in supplying the Covid vaccine.
Poonawalla mentioned that the production capacity of Covishield is under pressure given the increased domestic demand. As per reports, he added that the pause on Covishield's foreign shipments and the 'first claim' deal with India is difficult to explain abroad where these vaccines are sold at a higher price. This is despite AstraZeneca's announcement to supply the vaccine to 142 countries in March as part of its efforts to ensure equitable access to the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the first of millions of doses of Asterzeneca's COVAX, developed with its partner SII, have begun arriving in several low and middle-income countries, informed AstraZeneca. First COVAX shipments were dispatched to Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire, and countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Fiji, Mongolia and Moldova. AstraZeneca expects further shipments in the coming weeks and hopes to provide 142 countries with hundreds of millions of doses in the coming months.