Can Boris Johnson resolve the UK’s vaccine supply shortage?

Government officials keen to avoid ‘war of words’ with Indian government over delivery hold-up

Boris Johnson at the daily press briefing
(Image credit: Tolga Akmen/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The government is reportedly negotiating with an Indian pharmaceutical giant in a bid to resolve next month’s coronavirus vaccine supply issues.

NHS bosses warned earlier this week of a month-long “significant reduction” in the supply of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from the end of March that is thought to be due to a hold-up of deliveries from the Serum Institute of India (SII).

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 Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.