Secret talks to tackle export restrictions of jabs from India
SECRET talks have been launched with India over vaccine export restrictions that threaten to slow the UK rollout of jabs, the Mail can reveal.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs a ‘delay’ to a shipment of five million AstraZeneca jabs from India was a key factor in shortages that will slow the pace of the vaccination campaign next month.
A further 1.7 million doses have been delayed because of the need to re-test a large batch already in the UK. The NHS warned on Wednesday that a ‘significant
‘Prioritise the huge needs of India’
reduction’ in supply was now expected throughout April, delaying the rollout to the under-50s.
Mr Hancock insisted the shortfall would not hit the UK Government’s target to vaccinate all adults by the end of July – and would also not delay the lifting of lockdown restrictions.
But Downing Street did not deny a suggestion by the Serum Institute of India (SII) head that the Indian government was temporarily blocking exports of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.
Its chief executive Adar Poonawalla – reportedly India’s sixth richest man with a fortune of more than £9billion – said no further doses would be sent to Britain until the Indian government gave the go-ahead.
‘There is no vaccine shortage,’ he added. ‘There was never a commitment to supplying doses to the UK in any stipulated time. We just said we will offer our help.
‘India has allowed five million doses to go to the UK.
‘The balance will be decided to be given to the UK at an appropriate time by the Indian government.’
Asked when the UK would get its remaining doses, he added: ‘It is solely dependent on India and it has nothing to do with the SII.’ The UK deal with SII was announced on March 2 but Mr Poonawalla warned ten days earlier supplies were not running smoothly.
On February 21, he wrote on Twitter: ‘Dear countries & governments, as you await COVIDSHIELD supplies [the Indian name for the Oxford/AZ jab], I humbly request you to please be patient.
‘Serum has been directed to prioritise the huge needs of India and along with that balance the needs of the rest of the world. We are trying our best.’
Dubbed the ‘Prince of Vaccines’, the University of Westminster-educated tycoon has a Mumbai home he shares with wife Natasha that has featured in Vogue and his art collection includes works by Van Gogh and Picasso. He converted a Mercedes into a Batmobile for his son’s sixth birthday. Yesterday, Mr Hancock heaped praise on SII, which has already delivered five million doses to the UK. He said he wanted to ‘put on record my gratitude to the Serum Institute of India for the incredible work that they’re doing producing vaccines not just for us in the UK, but for the whole world’.
Boris Johnson, who is due to go to India in the coming months, also played down the issue, saying the Indian government had ‘not stopped any exports’. He told a No 10 briefing yesterday: ‘There is a delay, but this is by no means the end of the story of the UK’s relationship with SII. We hope to make further progress over the weeks and months ahead.’
However, British officials are understood to have begun diplomatic talks with prime minister Narendra Modi’s government about lifting restrictions on exports to the UK.