NEW DELHI (Reuters). The Gavi vaccine alliance is in talks with India’s Bharat Biotech regarding the possibility of purchasing of Covaxin COVID-19 shots for the COVAX global vaccination distribution programme. A spokesperson for Gavi said to Reuters on Thursday.
“We are currently in discussions with (Bharat Biotech) while we examine the overall COVAX portfolio needs in 2022. The spokesperson has stated in an email that they have not reached an agreement on supplying Covaxin to COVAX at this moment.
In November, the World Health Organization approved Covaxin the first COVID-19 vaccine from India for use in emergencies. Three of the 10 vaccines the global agency has approved are manufactured in India.
India has administered about 180 million doses of Covaxin. More than 3 million doses of the drug were exported or donated.
Gavi announced that it was working with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for the world’s largest vaccine maker to begin supplying the Novavax vaccine to COVAX. Gavi has a definitive order commitment of 300 million doses of the shot, with the option of 700 million doses.
The SII has thousands to millions of Novavx shots, which it calls Covovax. It has also shipped more than 9,000,000 doses to Indonesia through bilateral agreements.
The SII is also a major supplier of the AstraZeneca vaccine to India and COVAX.
India has returned to exporting vaccines in October, after having stopped shipments in April to immunize its citizens, has so far donated or sold more than 1 billion doses.
The world’s largest vaccine-producing country can produce approximately 5 billion COVID-19 vaccine vaccine doses per year.
