MAHA COMPANY TO PRODUCE 228 MN COVAXIN DOSES ANNUALLY

: The Centre on Wednesday said that the Maharashtra-owned Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corp will produce 228 million Covaxin doses per annum as part of a technology transfer arrangement with vaccine maker Bharat Biotech , a move that will increase the number of Covid-19 vaccines produced locally.

The announcement came days after the Centre last week rejected criticism from several states that it was not doing enough to improve vaccine production in the country and said, Haffkine , the national Dairy development Board promoted Indian Immunulogicals and the Centre-owned Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals will together aim to produce up to 40 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines by December. It said this was apart from Bharat Biotech’s own efforts to enhance Covaxin production to 100 million doses per month by October.

In a statement on Wednesday, the science and technology ministry said that as part of the effort to enhance vaccine capacity, “three public enterprises are being supported by the Department of Biotechnology under Aatmanirbhar Bharat [Self-reliant India] 3.0 Mission Covid Suraksha.”

Officials on Tuesday claimed India will be in a position to vaccinate 10 million people every day by July or August. The government’s representative separately told the Supreme Court that the country will administer doses to all eligible individuals by the end of the year. India administered an average of 1.93 million doses of vaccine a day in May.

Sandeep Rathod, managing director, Haffkine Biopharmaceuticals, said the Centre has provided the company ₹65 crore grant and Maharashtra ₹94 crore for the production of Covaxin. “We have been given a timeline of eight months. The vaccine production process...,” said Rathod.

NEW DELHI