Govt aid to double Covaxin production

COVAXIN HAS BEEN DEVELOPED BY BHARAT BIOTECH IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE ICMR’S NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF VIROLOGY

NEW DELHI: The Indian government will help double the production capacity of India’s first, and thus far, only, made-in-India vaccine against Covid-19, Covaxin, to 20 million by MayJune, from the existing 10 million doses per month, and further to 100 million doses a month by September, the ministry of science and technology said in a statement on Friday.

It will provide ₹65 crore to Bharat Biotech, the makers of Covaxin, to upgrade its production capacity.

In late March, the company wrote to the Department of Biotechnology seeking funding of around ₹100 crore to enhance its capacity. Serum Institute of India, which makes the other vaccine available in India, Covishield, the Indian version of the AstraZeneca /Oxford vaccine also sought around ₹3000 crore around the same time to boost its own capacity.

“…the Department of Biotechnology, government of India is providing financial support as grant to vaccine manufacturing facilities for enhanced production capacities. The current production capacity of indigenously developed Covaxin vaccine will be doubled by May-June 2021 and then increased nearly 6-7 fold by July-August 2021 i.e increasing the production from 10 million vaccine doses in April, 2021 to 60-70 million vaccine dose per month in July-August. It is expected to reach nearly 100 million doses per month by September 2021,” said the ministry of science and technology in a statement on Friday.

Covaxin has been developed by Bharat Biotech in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) National Institute of Virology.

India will need a billion-andhalf doses of vaccine to vaccinate its adult population. It also faces the challenge of rapidly enhancing supply of vaccines as well as expanding eligibility to them as it races to get enough of its population vaccinated against the backdrop of a surging second wave of the pandemic.

The Indian government, under Atmanirbhar Bharat 3, announced mission Covid suraksha to accelerate the development and production of indigenous Covid-19 Vaccines. The project is being implemented by the Department of Biotechnology, government of India.

Last month, inter-ministerial teams visited the sites of the two main vaccine manufacturers in India to get their inputs on how vaccine production can be enhanced rapidly. Since then, there have been extensive reviews and feasibility studies on the plans being discussed with vaccine manufacturers, according to the science ministry.

“As a part of this augmentation plan, capacities of Bharat Biotech Limited, Hyderabad, as well as other public sector manufactures are being upgraded with required infrastructure and technology. Financial support is being provided as grant from government of India to the tune of approximately ₹65 Cr to Bharat Biotech’s new Bangalore facility which is being re-purposed to increase the capacity of vaccine production,” said the ministry’s statement.

At least three state-owned companies are also being supported to increase the capacity of vaccine production. These include Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd, Mumbai, which is a Maharashtra state enterprise.

“Financial support as grant from the government of India to the tune of approximately ₹65 Cr will be provided for this facility to be made ready for manufacturing. Haffkine Biopharmaceuticals Ltd had asked for around 12 months to complete this task. However, the Central government has asked it to expedite and complete the task urgently within 6 months. The facility will have a capacity of 20 million dozes per month, once functional,” said the statement.

Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), Hyderabad, which is a facility under National Dairy Development Board, and Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Limited (BIBCOL), Bulandshahar, a central public sector enterprise under department of biotechnology will also be supported to start manufacturing 10-15 million doses per month by August – September, 2021.

The state-owned enterprises will likely manufacture Covaxin under licence.