Vaccine talks with other countries as hopes fade for Indian supplies By Damith Wickramasekara View(s): View(s):The Government has started talks with several countries, including the United States and Australia, to purchase Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines as hopes for a quick delivery of fresh batches of the vaccine from India are fading. According to the latest data, there can be a gap of up to 16 weeks between the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and the second one, Mr Weeratunga said. The first batch is scheduled to arrive in the country next week and will enable health authorities to resume the country’s COVID vaccination drive, according to Mr. Weeratunga. Meanwhile, the Government is also holding talks on buying 5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. This agreement is yet to be signed and any delivery of that vaccine will take at least three months, Mr Weeratunga added.

Source: Sunday Times May 02, 2021 00:54 UTC