UK: Shortfall in vaccine deliveries will delay jabs

LONDON (AP) — British health authorities say COVID-19 vaccinations for people under age 50 may be delayed for up to a month amid a shortfall in supply, partly due to reduced deliveries from the Serum Institute of India.

Britain’s National Health Service told public health officials Thursday that vaccine supplies available for first doses would be “significantly constrained” beginning March 29. As a result, people under 50 shouldn’t get shots unless they have underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk, according to a letter from Emily Lawson, the NHS’s chief commercial officer, and Dr. Nikita Kanani, medical director for primary care.

Doctors had expected to begin vaccinating younger people next month, but that will have to be pushed back until May, said Dr. Martin Marshall, the chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a GP in east London.

“It was disappointing news when we heard yesterday that the supplies weren’t going to be available during April,” he told the BBC. “It’s a massively successful program overall, and this is a bit of a setback.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said the delay won’t prevent the government from meeting its target of delivering a first dose of vaccine to everyone over 50 by mid-April and to all adults by July 31.

The shortfall is due in part to smaller than expected deliveries from the Serum Institute of India, which was expected to supply Britain with 10 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine this month. However the Serum Institute maintains that there were no “stipulated timelines” for delivery of the vaccines.

The institute said Thursday that 5 million doses have been delivered “and we will try to supply more later, based on the current situation and the requirement for the government immunization program in...