South Africa on Tuesday said that it wants to return one million COVID-19 vaccine doses it has received from Serum Institute of India, reported Reuters. The decision comes a week after the country said it would put on hold the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in its vaccination programme.

Serum Institute of India has been a major vaccine supplier for South Africa, with one million doses of the  AstraZeneca shot delivered last week and 500,000 more due to arrive in the next few weeks.

According to South Africa’s health minister, the government may sell doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, after an initial pause in the rollout due to a small clinical trial that showed the shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2.  501Y.V2 is the coronavirus variant dominant in the country.

While South Africa is yet to launch a proper vaccination programme, it decided to start vaccinating health workers with Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine as part of an “implementation study” with researchers.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday that AstraZeneca vaccines from India had been received Dominican Republic as India’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ programme reached the Carribean.

In a tweet, he said, “Delivered to Dominican Republic. ‘Vaccine Maitri’ reaches our Caribbean friends.”