South Africa has asked the Serum Institute of India to take back the one million Covid19 vaccine doses the company had sent in early February, as reported by ET on Tuesday. The development comes a week after the country said that it will put on hold the use of AstraZeneca’s shot in its vaccination program.

Serum Institute of India, which is producing AstraZeneca’s shot, has emerged as a key vaccine supplier. One million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had landed in South Africa last week and another 500,000 were due to arrive in the next few weeks.

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South Africa’s health minister has said that the government may sell doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, after the country paused its roll-out following a small clinical trial that showed it offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant dominant in the country.

AstraZeneca has said that its vaccine appeared to offer only limited protection against mild disease caused by the South African variant, based on data from a study by South Africa’s University of the Witwatersr and Oxford University.

The African country, which is yet to launch its COVID-19 vaccination program, has decided to start vaccinating health workers with Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine in the form of an “implementation study” with researchers.

(ET & The Hindu)