The Central Government and Bharat Biotech have decided to allow other pharmaceutical companies to produce Covaxin in order to rapidly ramp up production of the homegrown vaccine as the country expands it inoculation drive to shield all adults from the deadly coronavirus pandemic, NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul has said.
"People say that Covaxin should be given to other companies for manufacturing. I am happy to say that Covaxin manufacturing company (Bharat Biotech) has welcomed this when we discussed it with them," NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul said.
"Under this vaccine, a live virus is inactivated and this is done only in BSL3 (Biosafety Level 3) labs. Not every company has this. We give an open invitation to companies who want to do this. Companies that want to manufacture Covaxin, should do it together. The Centre will assist so that capacity is increased," Dr Paul said.
The government has already asked some public sector companies to produce Covaxin and now as part of the rapid expansion plan the move has been extended to the private sector companies as well.
"We are going through a phase of finite supply. The entire world is going through this. It takes time to come out of this phase," Dr Paul said.
Some consignments of the Sputnik V vaccine have also arrived in the country from Russia and will be available from next week, he said.
Sputnik V will also be produced in India from July onwards. Hyderabad-based Dr. Reddy's Laboratories will be the first local company to manufacture the vaccine in India.
Dr VK Paul said, “We will have 2 billion doses in the next five months – made by India and used by India.”
This will include another 750 million of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, manufactured in India by the Serum Institute of India under the Covishield brand, as well as 550 million doses of Covaxin, made by Bharat Biotech will be produced between August and December, Paul told reporters at a news conference.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has signed a deal to produce 750 million doses a year of Sputnik V in India. Apart from Dr Reddy’s Laboratories there are four other Indian pharmaceutical companies that will also manufacture the vaccine.
The Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine was first approved in Russia on August 11 last year. With an efficacy of 91.6%, as published in the Lancet Medical Journal, the vaccine has been cleared and approved for mass use in more than 50 countries.
According to the health ministry’s data on Thursday morning, 177,214,256 vaccine doses have been administered across the country so far, including 1,894,991 in the last 24 hours.
Currently, the third phase of India’s vaccination drive is underway as every citizen above the age of 18 became eligible for a jab starting May 1.
India’s vaccination drive against Covid-19 began on January 16, two weeks after the DCGI announced clearance for both Covishield and Covaxin.
