Serum Institute of India to send 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine Covishield to UK: Report

The UK will receive 10 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the UK government said, news agency Reuters reports. "The UK has ordered 100 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, of which 10 million doses will come from the Serum Institute of India," a UK government spokesperson told Reuters.

SII, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, is mass producing the AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield, developed with Oxford University, for dozens of poor and middle-income countries.

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A slew of low-and middle-income countries ranging from Bangladesh to Brazil is dependent on SII's Covid-19 vaccine Covishield. Serum Institute is also providing doses to the COVAX programme backed by the World Health Organization.

The UK was the first country to start its vaccination drive in December last year. The country began rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Britain has been ahead at inoculating people, with nearly 20.5 million residents receiving the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine so far, according to official data.