<p id="thickbox_headline">The Serum Institute of India (SII) has waived its protection from legal liabilities for any AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid-19 shots it supplies to a global programme for refugees, a spokesperson for the GAVI vaccine alliance told <em>Reuters </em>on Wednesday.</p>.<p>The news comes days after <em>Reuters </em>reported that tens of millions of migrants may be denied Covid-19 vaccines from the vaccine-sharing programme COVAX because of concerns over who would be liable in the event of harmful side-effects.</p>.<p>Many Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers require that countries indemnify them for any adverse events suffered by individuals as a result of the vaccines. But where governments are not in control - in the case of refugees - that is not possible.</p>.<p>With the waiver, SII's version of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, Covishield, can now be allocated to COVAX's Humanitarian Buffer - a last-resort reserve of shots to be distributed by humanitarian groups, the GAVI representative said.</p>.<p>SII, the world's biggest manufacturer of vaccines which also produces a version of Novavax's Covid-19 shot, declined to comment.</p>.<p>AstraZeneca-Serum are currently the main suppliers of Covid-19 vaccines to COVAX, but are set to be displaced by Pfizer and BioNTech at the start of 2022.</p>.<p>GAVI, a public-private partnership, was set up in 2000 to promote vaccination around the world. It operates COVAX together with the World Health Organization to supply Covid-19 shots to poorer nations. </p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH videos:</strong></p>
<p id="thickbox_headline">The Serum Institute of India (SII) has waived its protection from legal liabilities for any AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid-19 shots it supplies to a global programme for refugees, a spokesperson for the GAVI vaccine alliance told <em>Reuters </em>on Wednesday.</p>.<p>The news comes days after <em>Reuters </em>reported that tens of millions of migrants may be denied Covid-19 vaccines from the vaccine-sharing programme COVAX because of concerns over who would be liable in the event of harmful side-effects.</p>.<p>Many Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers require that countries indemnify them for any adverse events suffered by individuals as a result of the vaccines. But where governments are not in control - in the case of refugees - that is not possible.</p>.<p>With the waiver, SII's version of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, Covishield, can now be allocated to COVAX's Humanitarian Buffer - a last-resort reserve of shots to be distributed by humanitarian groups, the GAVI representative said.</p>.<p>SII, the world's biggest manufacturer of vaccines which also produces a version of Novavax's Covid-19 shot, declined to comment.</p>.<p>AstraZeneca-Serum are currently the main suppliers of Covid-19 vaccines to COVAX, but are set to be displaced by Pfizer and BioNTech at the start of 2022.</p>.<p>GAVI, a public-private partnership, was set up in 2000 to promote vaccination around the world. It operates COVAX together with the World Health Organization to supply Covid-19 shots to poorer nations. </p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH videos:</strong></p>