Sri Lanka began injecting pregnant women with a Chinese coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday and Nepal resumed inoculations with a China-made jab as India's neighbours turn to Beijing and Moscow for help with supplies.
South Asian nations turn to China, Russia for vaccine
Sri Lanka began injecting pregnant women with a Chinese coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday and Nepal resumed inoculations with a China-made jab as India’s neighbours turn to Beijing and Moscow for help with supplies.
Nepal halted inoculations at the end of May after its stock of AstraZeneca shots and Chinese Sinopharm jabs ran short.
The programme resumed on Tuesday after a million more Sinopharm doses arrived from China, the only country that has so far responded to its appeals for help.
India had previously supplied Nepal with the AstraZeneca vaccine from its manufacturer Serum Institute but in March froze vaccine exports as infections soared domestically.
South Asian nations turn to China, Russia for COVID-19 vaccine help
While Bangladesh has been giving only second doses of the AstraZeneca shot since late April as supplies dwindle, Sri Lanka began injecting pregnant women with a Chinese coronavirus vaccine.
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A Sri Lankan health worker administers the second dose of Covishield in Welisara near Colombo. (File photo| AP) By AFP
KATHMANDU: Sri Lanka began injecting pregnant women with a Chinese coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday and Nepal resumed inoculations with a China-made jab as India s neighbours turn to Beijing and Moscow for help with supplies.
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New Delhi, June 3
India on Thursday placed its first advance order of 300 million doses of an unapproved, yet to be licensed, Covid-19 vaccine being produced by Hyderabad-based Biological E.
The Union Health Ministry announced that it had finalised arrangements with Biological-E to reserve 30 crore vaccine doses.
Rectifying mistake of not ordering in initial phases
The advance order for an unapproved vaccine shows that the government wants to set its vaccine strategy on course
It is now facing crunch as it has made the mistake of not pre-booking various vaccine candidates in advanced stages of development
“These vaccine doses will be manufactured and stockpiled by Biological-E from August to December 2021. For this purpose, the Union Ministry of Health would be making an advance payment of Rs 1,500 crore to Biological-E,” the government said a day after the Supreme Court questioned its weak vaccine policy that had left several people uncovered and in the lurch.
Even after a belated scramble for more doses, India's vaccine programme faces a desperate supply shortage. Fearful in the wake of a rampaging second wave, everyone now wants it, but there are just not enough doses to go around - Issue Date: May 24, 2021