South Africa has asked the Serum Institute of India to take back 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine that the company had sent in early February, The Economic Times reported on Tuesday.

Last week, South Africa's health minister said the government may sell doses of AstraZeneca's AZN.L vaccine after the country paused its rollout following a small clinical trial that showed it offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant dominant in the country.

Meanwhile, Mexico received a shipment of 870,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine from India recently. The government said that the country prepares to prioritize older people in the next phase of its vaccination campaign. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told a news conference that the country is also expecting shipments to resume of vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech, with 494,000 doses due to arrive on Tuesday. Sunday’s shipment amounts to about 42% of the 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccine the country plans to import from India, in addition to packaging it locally, the government said.

Mexico and Argentina have an agreement with AstraZeneca to produce the vaccine for the eventual distribution of 250 million doses in Latin America, with financial support from the foundation of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.

Mexico, which has one of the world's highest coronavirus death tolls, started vaccinating healthcare workers in December but struggled to hit its targets amid global shortages and delays of Pfizer's vaccine.

Story Input: Reuters