The World Health Organization (WHO), which co-leads COVAX, has been urging India to restart supplies for the programme, especially after it sent about 4 million doses to its neighbours and partners in October. Based on an informal approval from India, COVAX officials have started planning allocations of the Covishield shot for various countries, said one of the sources, both of whom declining to be identified pending a final agreement. Covishield is a licensed version of the AstraZeneca shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker. A WHO spokesperson said in an email that a new COVAX supply forecast would be published next week. COVAX in September cut its 2021 delivery target by nearly 30% to 1.425 billion doses.

Source: The Hindu November 10, 2021 06:14 UTC