Pune: South Africa has reportedly asked the Serum Institute of India to take back one million COVID-19 vaccine doses it had received in early February.
The country is putting on hold the AstraZeneca vaccine on the ground that a trial carried out in the country shows that the vaccine offers minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant dominant in South Africa.
The country is yet to launch a COVID-19 vaccination program and is currently testing Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine as an “implementation study”.
