AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing partner in Southeast Asia has missed a delivery target in Thailand and shipments to other countries in the region have been delayed, the latest setback for a shot that
was meant to be the backbone of the global inoculation effort.

Thailand was slated to receive and administer 6 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses in June but health authorities this week said they would be distributing only about 3.5 million of those shots this month. Pledging to still give out 6 million doses as planned, officials appear to be making up the shortfall with millions of shots from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd.

Shipments of shots made by Siam Bioscience, AstraZeneca’s Bangkok-based partner, which has links to the Thai royal family, to Malaysia and the Philippines have also been delayed, though both countries say they don’t expect to be waiting for too long.

• Ashoka Buildcon JV Bags Rs 1,041-Crore BMC Flyover Project; Shares End 2.30% Higher
• WPIL Shares End 7.75% Higher on Order Win
• Biocon Launches Diabetes, Obesity Drug-Device in Netherlands; Shares Trade Flat
• Bharat Electronics Shares Trade Higher on Rs 776 Crore Orders 
• Granules India Shares Slump Despite Securing EIR from USFDA 

The situation comes on top of delivery problems at India’s Serum Institute of India Ltd., another AstraZeneca partner, which has left developing countries from Nepal to Rwanda short of shots that were promised through the World Health Organization-backed Covax program. Siam Bioscience is AstraZeneca’s sole Covid vaccine partner in Southeast Asia, a region that is trailing on inoculation and where the virus continues to flare, including in Thailand where infections have surged over the past two months.