India can make 4 billion vaccines

It can be produced by the end of 2021

India is one of the largest producers of vaccines in the world with a capacity of three billion doses. With different vaccines produced and supplied to other countries, India’s capacity is being looked at positively for the mass production of the Covid19 vaccines. Capacity-building for

Covid-19 vaccine has shown that four billion vaccines can be produced by the end of 2021, according to a study by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

An alliance to finance and coordinate development of vaccines, it had undertaken a worldwide survey on capacity-building, capabilities and interest of governments to respond to the pandemic.

According to estimates by pharmacologists, India’s capacity will help but making billions of vaccines requires scaling up production and synchronising systems for the particular vaccine. This will mean that other vaccine productions can take a hit during that time.

Dr Sai Kumar Katam, president of Doctors of Pharmacy, explained, “No pharma company can make five billion doses in the next year and it will require all of them to come together. The world will require 4.7 billion doses of Coronavirus vaccine to reach herd immunity levels. It is also very important to note that vaccine administration will be required for the whole world. It cannot be that some countries are vaccinated while others are not. That will not help.”

It will also mean that there will have to be a flow of monetary capital to scale up the process of production for vaccines.

Distribution of vaccines will also be a point of concern as it will require proper storage in temperatures where the efficacy of vaccines remains intact. Movement of vaccines from one place to another will require government interventions to reach out to the farthest populations of the world.

Experts are looking at the Pulse Polio model of India where the combination of government and non-government organisations helped eradicate the disease by reaching all children.

There are a total of 113 manufacturers in 30 countries of the world and it has been found that India has the largest production capacity for drug substances, vaccines, expression systems and biologics.