The World Health Organization (WHO) says that between 30 and 40 countries in the world, including Sri Lanka, which are expecting stocks of AstraZeneca vaccine for the second dose of COVID vaccine, have failed to administer the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to their populations.
“Currently, a large number of countries have had to discontinue their second dose,” said Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the World Health Organization’s director general of organizational change.
AstraZeneca Covshield vaccine stocks were distributed through the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility program. The first consignment of Covishield vaccine was delivered to Sri Lanka under the Covax facility.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was manufactured by Serum in India, and many countries that were expecting stocks for its second dose have experienced a sharp drop in manufacturers’ supply due to the escalation of the covid disaster in India in April 2021.
Aylward said it was affected to Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, as well as India’s neighbors, such as Nepal or Sri Lanka.
“Many of these countries are at the end of their stockpile of vaccines,” said Catherine O’Brien, director of the World Health Organization’s Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biology.
Countries with ‘weak’ vaccination programs continue to suffer from suspended supplies. She also said that it was a situation where trust was being lost among the population.
