Amid reports that many States are facing Covaxin shortage, its maker Bharat Biotech claimed that they have made a fresh despatch of the vaccine to government and private hospitals in as many as 30-odd cities across the country.

The latest despatch was made on May 17, said sources, without revealing the quantity. Till date, Bharat Biotech has supplied around 24 million doses of Covaxin. According to company sources, as per the agreement with the government, Bharat Biotech had to supply 5 million doses of Covaxin every fortnight in April and May.

The Hyderabad-based vaccine maker has promised to produce 700 million doses of Covaxin till April next year.

Early this month, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that Covaxin production is expected to touch 55 million doses per month by July this year.

Covaxin shortage

While all this is happening, Covaxin shortage is a reality in many States.

Telangana, where Bharat Biotech is located, on Sunday said it was postponing the second dose for persons above 45 years, in view of inadequate stock and non-receipt fresh stocks from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Maharashtra and Delhi, too, had complained about the shortage of Covaxin.

But Atishi Marlena, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and MLA in Delhi Assembly, said on Tuesday that the Delhi government had received a supply of 60,240 doses of Covaxin from the Centre, which would help them to pull on for two days. Earlier, the Delhi government had announced plans to temporarily close down centres administering Covaxin because of non-availability of the shot. Meanwhile, the Centre, on Wednesday, assured the States and UTs that over 5.86 crore vaccine doses – Covishield and Covaxin – will be made available to them between May 1 and June 15.

This would include vaccine doses that have been supplied so far in this month. Besides, quoting vaccine manufacturers, it said nearly 4.88 crore vaccine shots will be available for States and UTs for direct purchase till June-end.

To boost output

Bharat Biotech, on its part, plans to ramp up production step-by-step, and is already in the process of commencing Covaxin production in facilities in Kolar in Karnataka and Manjari near Pune, besides Hyderabad.

During a recent media event, Bharat Biotech CMD Krishna Ella had said thatvaccines based on inactivated viruses are extremely complex and expensive to manufacture, resulting in lower yields when compared to live virus vaccines.

The Covaxin technology has also been transferred to three public sector enterprises, including Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), a Hyderabad-based subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board.

IIL, which has expertise in handling viral vaccines, is in a better position to commence production at the earliest compared to Haffkine Biopharmaceuticals Ltd and Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Ltd, which together are expected to produce 35 million doses of the vaccine.

According to an industry expert, a facility that already has a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) facility for handling viruses may be able to come online in three to six months; a facility that has to begin from the ground up could take as much as one to one-and-a-half years for commencing production.

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