Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech have been asked by government to raise capacities of Covid-19 vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, respectively. A government panel visited the facility recently and asked the manufacturers to come up with innovative ways to ramp up capacities amid unprecedented demand due to the second wave. The manufacturers are also mulling repurposing of existing capacities or manufacturing tie-ups in view of the huge demand, Business Standard reported quoting a government official.
Last week, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech had written to the Centre seeking funds worth Rs 100 crore to ramp up the production of its coronavirus vaccine Covaxin while Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has also verbally requested for funds from the Government’s Covid Suraksha scheme to increase its production. The move follows the increased demand of vaccines amid government’s decision to vaccinate all above the age of 45 years.
Currently, Bharat Biotech is producing 4 million doses of Covaxin per month at their Hyderabad-based plant. Similarly, the SII has set a target to increase the output from 60 million doses to 100 million per month, the Economic Times reported.
The country, with the most number of reported COVID-19 cases after the United States and Brazil, has so far injected more than 80 million doses and exported nearly as many. The cumulative number of coronavirus vaccine doses administered crossed 8.31 crore, the health ministry said. Of these, 43,00,966 were given on Monday.
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India on Tuesday recorded 96,982 daily cases, taking the country’s overall tally to 1,26,86,049. The toll went up to 1,65,547 after 446 deaths were registered in 24 hours. The active cases rose for the 27th straight day to 7,88,223. As many as 1,17,32,279 people have recovered from the infection in the country.
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