SII to supply 10 million doses of Covishield to UK

NEW DELHI: The United Kingdom (UK) will receive 10 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII). A UK spokesperson said in a statement that The UK has ordered 100 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, out of which 10 million doses will come from SII.

The AstraZeneca vaccine Covisheild is developed with Oxford University in mass production by SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume. It is being developed for dozens of poor and middle-income countries. Many low and middle-class countries ranging from Bangladesh to Brazil depend on SII’s Covishield. SII is also supplying doses to the COVAX programme supported by the World Health Organisation.

UK was the first country to initiate its vaccination drive in December in 2020. The country began rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNtech. According to an official data, Britain had been ahead at immunising people, with approximately 20.5 million residents receiving the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine so far.