Delay in supply from India to slow down UK vaccine roll-out

THE UK is expecting a reduced roll-out of its vaccine from March 29 because of a likely delay in delivery of doses from India, according to reports.

A shipment from India's Serum Institute of India (SII), that manufactures the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, has been held up for four weeks, the BBC said.

"We have less supply than we might have hoped for the coming weeks, but we expect it to increase again later," housing secretary Robert Jenrick told BBC.

"The vaccine roll-out will be slightly slower than we might have hoped but not slower than the target," he said. "We have every reason to believe that supply will increase in the months of May, June and July."

Jenrick added that Britain remains on track to have vaccinated priority groups by April 15 and looks to cover all adults by the end of July.

So far 25.27 million people in the country have had a jab taken, accounting for around 48 per cent of adults.

"Five million doses had been delivered a few weeks ago to the UK and we will try to supply more later, based on the current situation and the requirement for the government immunisation programme in India," a spokesperson for the Serum institute said.

Yesterday (17), the European Union chief, Ursula von der Leyen, threatened to stop the export of Covid-19 vaccines to the UK as Europe races to meet the scarcity of doses for its people.

Jenrick said, "I was surprised and disappointed by those comments, but the prime minister had spoken earlier in the year to Ursula von der Leyen and she gave a very clear commitment, which was that the EU would not engage in this sort of activity, that contractual responsibilities would be honoured.

"And that's exactly what we intend to do and I hope and expect the EU to stick to their side of the bargain."