Covaxin production ramp-up may be delayed by 2 months; to reach 100 mn capacity by Nov

The increase in production of Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin is likely to be delayed by 2 months, with 100 million doses per month capacity being reached in November as against government's earlier estimate of September.

The delay in ramping up production is because of slower-than-expected pace of technology transfer to public sector enterprises (PSEs) selected by the government to produce the vaccine. However, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin production will more than double to 5 crore doses per month in August-September.

Indian Immunologicals Ltd, Mumbai-based Haffkine Institute, Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Ltd, and Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre are among the PSEs which will start Covaxin production in the next few months.

"For Covaxin, we will see a significant (production) ramp-up of more than double in August-September, when the doses manufactured by Bharat Biotech will jump to 5 crore from the current 2 crore doses, as their Bengaluru facility starts producing in full swing," the Economic Times quoted a government official as saying.

The public sector units are expected to produce 30-40 million doses of Covaxin by November-December, the official said.

"Currently, only Indian Immunologicals Ltd at Hyderabad has received the technology and is expected to soon start contributing to vaccine production," the publication quoted another official as saying.

Covaxin, Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Russia's Sputnik V are currently being used in India's vaccination programme against COVID-19. As of Tuesday morning, 25.90 crore vaccine doses have been administered across the country as part of the vaccination programme.

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