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Serum Institute continues to put Covishield production on hold, 200 million doses in stock
PUNE Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has put on hold the production of Covishield since the past three months, as the demand for the vaccine has gone down
PUNE Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has put on hold the production of Covishield since the past three months, as the demand for the vaccine has gone down. Currently, the company has over 200 million doses of the vaccine in stock, though SII officials said, production can be resumed any moment based on demand.
The production was halted in January due to the consistent drop in demand as India saw wider coverage of the first dose. Starting from April 10, Centre began booster (third) dose of vaccination for all above 18-years, however the drive has been slow due to multiple reasons including fewer Covid-19 cases, mild infections, and reluctant private hospitals, which are supposed to vaccinate citizens.
An official spokesperson of the company said, “As of now, we have about 200 million doses of the vaccine available in our cold storage facility. We had stopped the production of the vaccine in January as the demand for the vaccine had gone down. The exports of the vaccine have 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.”
With falling cases and most beneficiaries either fully vaccinated, with two doses or having been infected once or in some cases twice, the demand and the need for vaccine has gone down. DR H K Sale, executive director at Noble Hospital said, “The need for vaccines, especially at private hospitals, has gone down to almost none since people have got both vaccines from the government facilities for free. With falling cases the need for a third dose is now nominal.”
India’s vaccine coverage till Saturday crossed 185 crore which includes first and second dose. Over 24,308,220 precaution doses have been administered to healthcare and frontline workers, and to those above 60 so far, according to central health ministry.
“During the peak of the demand we could manufacture about 270 million doses of the vaccine within a month, and so, if required we could resume the production of Covishield if and when the demand increases,” said The SII spokesperson said.
According to Dr Sanjay Patil, chairperson, hospital board of India, currently private hospitals in Pune city have about 14 to 15 lakh doses available in stock which they had purchased before the government announced the booster dose for all above 18 years. “Pune city has about 36 private CVC’s which have the old stock of Covishield. The old stock will be used to give the booster shot. Some are still doubtful whether they should purchase any more stock for the booster dose drive, since the demand has gone down,” Patil said.
While government allowed precautionary doses for beneficiaries of 18 to 59 years of age, most private hospitals in Pune have stayed away from administering the booster dose to the younger beneficiaries. Most hospitals said that the cut down in price and the poor response to the overall vaccination drive in private hospitals has discouraged them to continue with the vaccination drive. However, a few have expressed their readiness to begin the vaccination drive once the system is put in place.
