LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson said on Thursday that a delay in the supply of COVID-19
vaccine from the Serum Institute in India to Britain was due to
technical issues and not because of any intervention by the
Indian government.
"I want to thank the Serum Institute of India for their
heroic role in producing huge quantities of vaccine," Johnson
said at a news conference in Downing Street in response to a
question about whether there was "vaccine nationalism" at play
on the Indian side.
"There is a delay ... as there is very frequently in vaccine
rollout programmes," he said.
Pressed on whether the Indian government had stopped exports
of vaccine to Britain, Johnson said: "No, no, there is a delay
as there often is, caused for various technical reasons, but we
hope to continue to work very closely with the Serum Institute,
and indeed with partners around the world including on the
European continent."
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Estelle Shirbon; editing by
Michael Holden)