Has Serum Institute of India not resumed Covishield production yet?

According to SII, 200 million doses of the vaccine were available at the cold storage facility till April

Pune: The Serum Institute of India (SII), which had stopped Covid vaccine production in January this year with sufficient doses in stock, may not have resumed the production. According to SII, 200 million doses of the vaccine were available at the cold storage facility till April this year.

The Serum Institute of India (SII), which had stopped Covid vaccine production in January this year with sufficient doses in stock, may not have resumed the production. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

SII spokesperson said, “As mentioned the other day, unfortunately we will not be able to comment on these at the moment.”

SII had stopped the production of vaccine in January following drop in demand. The export of the vaccine had also gone down, while most of the people have been fully vaccinated. Since the government has announced booster doses for all above 18 years of age, some private hospitals have started enquiring about the same, according to SII sources and doctors from private hospitals.

During the peak of the demand, SII could manufacture about 270 million doses of the vaccine within a month.

Now, there is an increase in beneficiaries to complete vaccination and booster dose. Despite several attempts, SII representatives refused to comment on the current status of the vaccine stock. During the pandemic, SII had sold more than 1.5 billion doses in India of the AstraZeneca shot it makes and brands Covishield, and exported millions more.

In May, during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Adar Poonawalla, SII chief executive, had said that the demand for Covid vaccine has waned.

“The company is putting its Indian Covishield facilities on standby and will not produce anything there. But we could resume output if needed,” Poonawalla had said at Davos.