Britain to slow vaccine rollout due to supply crunch in India, testing of big batch

LONDON - Britain will have to slow its COVID-19 vaccine rollout next month due to a supply crunch caused by a delay in a shipment of millions of AstraZeneca shots from India and the need to test the stability of an additional 1.7 million doses.

Supply constraints are the biggest threat to Britain's vaccine rollout - currently the swiftest among the world's major economies - and health officials warned that the programme would face a significant reduction in supplies from March 29. "We have a delay in a scheduled arrival from the Serum Institute of India," Health Secretary Matt Hancock told parliament.