The Serum Institute of India (SII), which is a manufacturer of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, said on Tuesday (5 January 2020) that it would honour its contract to supply the Covax initiative as well as existing agreements with other countries.
Business Day reports that this follows a statement by the company’s CEO, Adar Poonawalla, over the weekend that the Indian government had placed a ban on exports for two months while the needs of India’s vulnerable population were met.
The report says South Africa’s only firm commitment for a vaccine is via Covax with delivery expected in the second quarter of the year. But health authorities had also been on the verge of tying up a separate deal with the SII for 1.4m vaccines for health workers for delivery in January.
Business Day reports that the department has not yet responded to a query about the outcome.
The report quotes Poonawalla as saying that SII was only restricted from making sales to the private market but could still supply government vaccination programmes globally. It would also honour existing contracts with Morocco, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, he said.
It was reported earlier that South Africa’s best hope of securing an early vaccine for health workers hung in the balance after the Indian government’s decision.
According to a Business Day report, the Indian government announced over the weekend that it would not allow the export of the vaccine, which is being manufactured by Serum, until vulnerable Indian citizen – believed to be between 200m and 300m people – have been vaccinated. This would mean that no exports are possible for several months.
The South African government is also in discussions with South African pharmaceutical giant Aspen over access to a COVID-19 vaccine. The Times reports that last week it emerged that 300m doses of the vaccine, developed by global health-care giant Johnson & Johnson, are to be produced at Aspen’s plant in Port Elizabeth.
Aspen said the deal would depend on the completion of Johnson & Johnson’s phase three clinical trials. Vials and syringes would then be filled at Aspen’s facility from a bulk supply of vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, after which they would be distributed through the pharma giant’s global supply chain.
Johnson & Johnson has stated it will make 50% of its 2021 targeted production available to developing markets of which South Africa forms a part. The Times reports that this could make the Johnson & Johnson vaccine a front-runner of the many vaccines the government is trying to get access to.
Health department deputy director-general Dr Anban Pillay has confirmed the discussions, but declined to give further details, the report says.
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