New Delhi, Apr 7 (IANS): Adar Poonawalla's Serum Institute of India (SII) has been served a legal notice by AstraZeneca over delays in supplying the Covid vaccine.

Poonawalla has mentioned that the existing production capacity to manufacture Covishield in India is under pressure due to increased demand in India.

Poonawalla has also mentioned as per reports that the Indian government's pause on major Covishield shipments to other countries and the 'first claim' deal with India were difficult to explain abroad, where the vaccine was sold at a higher cost per dose.

In March, AstraZeneca had announced supply to 142 countries underway as part of the unprecedented effort to bring broad and equitable access to the vaccine.

AstraZeneca with its partner Serum Institute of India will be the biggest initial supplier to COVAX, the pharma company had announced.

The first of many millions of doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine have begun arriving in low and middle-income countries across the world through the multilateral COVAX initiative, Astrazeneca said.

First COVAX shipments were dispatched to Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire, also countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Fiji, Mongolia and Moldova. This supply represents the first COVID-19 vaccine for many of these countries.

AstraZeneca had said further shipments will arrive in the coming weeks with the aim of supplying a total of 142 countries with hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine in the coming months.

The majority of these doses, manufactured by AstraZeneca and its licence partner Serum Institute of India, will go to low and middle-income countries.