Published 20:04 IST, December 28th 2020
We'll keep giving 50% of everything we make to India & to COVAX: SII CEO on COVID vaccine
First six months of 2021 will witness a shortage of vaccines globally but the shortage will eventually subside by August-September 2021, said Adar Poonawala.
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As India inches towards launching the Covid-19 vaccine in the country, Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India has stated on Monday that the first six months of the next year will witness a shortage of vaccines globally, but the shortage will eventually subside by August-September 2021 after other vaccine manufacturers join the bandwagon with mass-scale production and dispatch of vaccines.
Apprising over the current situation, Poonawala stated that the Serum Institute has stocked 40 to 50 million doses as of date and will be producing around 300 million doses by July next year.
"Once we get regulatory approvals in a few days, it will be down to the Govt to decide how much they can take and how fast," he said while speaking over the doses already produced.
Poonawala also stated that Serum institute "will keep giving 50% of everything it manufactures to India & to COVAX at the same time". He also said that the majority of the doses may end up for consumption in India itself owing to the country's large population.
"India is a part of 'COVAX'. We will keep giving 50% of everything we make to India & to COVAX at the same time. India has such a large population that we will probably end up giving the majority of those 50 million doses to India first," Adar Poonawala said.
Dry run of COVID-19 vaccine
As India is on the cusp of introducing COVID-19 vaccines in the country, a mock run for the inoculation of the vaccine has commenced on Monday morning across 4 states - Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, and Gujarat. The dry run is carried out with an aim to identify any possible adverse events as it tests the management and preparedness for administering the COVID-19 vaccine. India aims to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in the first phase of vaccination as three vaccine candidates in India are in the final stage of clinical trials, including the Oxford-Serum Institutes' Covishield which is likely to be the first vaccine to be launched in India.
Six vaccines to be introduced in India
Six vaccines are in the fray to be introduced in India to counter the threat of COVID-19 - Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR, ZyCov-D developed by Zydus Cadila, Oxford-Serum Institute's Covishield, an mRNA vaccine developed by Gennova. Moreover, Sputnik V vaccine of Russia is also being manufactured by Dr Reddy's Lab, Hyderabad, in collaboration with Russia's Gamaleya National Centre which will be introduced in India. The sixth one manufactured by Biological E Ltd, Hyderabad, in collaboration with MIT, USA is also undergoing clinical trials in India.
20:04 IST, December 28th 2020