The Gavi vaccine alliance hopes the Serum Institute of India (SII) will resume exports of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from this quarter, it told Reuters, earlier than the firm's forecast of the end of this year.

Gavi co-leads the Covax facility for equitable distribution of Covid-19 shots around the world. Covax suffered a big jolt in April when big vaccine producer India stopped all overseas shipments to meet local demand as infections rose dramatically.

India's coronavirus crisis has now eased and output of the AstraZeneca drug at SII, the world's biggest vaccine maker, has also jumped, but so has domestic demand.

“We remain hopeful that SII deliveries will resume in the third quarter, however, this cannot be confirmed at this stage,” a Gavi spokesperson said in an email.