As the Covid-19 cases are slowly inching up in the country, the demand for Bharat Biotech’s intranasal vaccine is also increasing. However, the company is treading cautiously on the production of Covaxin, an intra-muscular vaccine. 

Covaxin is a part of India’s public Covid-19 vaccine nation drive along with Serum Institute’s Covishield in the three waves of the pandemic faced by the country. In January this year, it rolled out the world’s first intranasal Covid-19 vaccine, iNcovacc. 

When asked about the demand and supply situation, a company official said that Bharat Biotech has already produced iNcovacc and it’s available for supply. While not sharing the number of intranasal vaccine doses available, the officials said an antigen bank of 10 million doses is being developed as a stockpile and added that the capacity of iNcovacc is very large and can be scaled up as required.  

“There have been several requests for large scale supplies of iNcovacc,’‘ the company official added. 

iNcovacc works both as a primary series vaccine and as a heterologous booster dose that can be taken by individuals who have already been vaccinated with Covishield or Covaxin.

However, Covaxin production would be taken up only on orders. Bharat Biotech has destroyed approximately 50 million doses of Covaxin over the past few months, due to non-procurement, at a ‘great loss’ for the company. 

With a spurt in cases, there has been a focus on catering to the possible demand for regular as well as booster doses. The Serum Institute has also commenced production of its intramuscular vaccine, Covishield. Covovax has also been added on CoWIN portal as a heterologous booster dose for adults.

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