Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Uzbekistan will receive 660,000 doses of the Covishield coronavirus vaccine on 17 March. The Service of Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare and Public Health said in a statement.

Covishield is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, administered intramuscularly. It is vector vaccine using genetically modified chimpanzee adenovirus. The vaccine is stable at household refrigerator temperatures and costs between US$3 and US$4 per dose. CoviShield is manufactured at facilities in India. The drug is manufactured by Serum Institute India.

According to the Service for Sanitary and Epidemiological Wellbeing and Public Health, the total cost of the delivery is US$1.98 million.

UNICEF is transporting Covishield to Uzbekistan under the COVAX program. Uzbekistan receives vaccines free of charge.

It should be noted that now many European countries suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. European countries began to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of side effects, including deaths.