WHO, SII Warn Of Raw Materials Shortage For COVID-19 Shots, Cites US Law As 'Serious' Limit:' Bloomberg

The head of Serum Institute of India (SII) and the World Health Organization’s chief scientist said that COVID-19 vaccine makers are amid a global shortage of the raw materials to manufacture the shots, Bloomberg reported.
SII’s CEO Adar Poonawalla told a World Bank panel that a U.S. law blocking the export of certain key items, including bags and filters, will likely cause serious bottlenecks.
WHO’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan also added that there is a shortfall of required vials, glass, plastic, and stoppers.
SII, the largest vaccine maker, is licensed to produce COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc (NASDAQ: AZN) and Novavax Inc (NASDAQ: NVAX).
Those supply disruption concerns have cropped up after the Biden administration announced plans to use the Defense Production Act to boost supplies needed for Pfizer Inc’s (NYSE: PFE) vaccines.
“There is a shortage of materials, of products that you need for the manufacturing of vaccines,” said Swaminathan. “This is where again you need global agreement and coordination not to do export bans.”
Last month, Financial times discussed vaccine manufacturers’ struggle to secure supplies of giant plastic bags used in bioreactors that mix pharmaceutical ingredients, thus creating a bottleneck, resulting in more vaccine rollout delays.
WHO will hold meetings on Monday and Tuesday next week to discuss these issues.
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