Serum Institute of India to produce 5mn Covishield doses in two months

SII has made available five to six million Covovax doses even as the demand for it is still almost zero. We will produce the same amount of Covishield doses in the next two to three months, said Adar Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India (SII) chief executive officer (CEO) Adar Poonawalla, while underlining that the current strain of Covid is mild and the demand for vaccine shots is low, said his firm will produce five to six million Covishield doses in the next two to three months and same amount of stock is already available for Covovax.

According to Poonawalla, SII has already produced five to six million doses of Covovax vaccine, manufactured through technology transfer from US-based vaccine maker Novavax. He was speaking to reporters on Saturday at a function amid rising cases of coronavirus infections in the country since March.

Poonawalla said, “The current Covid train is not severe, it is just a mild strain. Just for precautionary measures, elderly people can get the booster dose, but it would be their choice whether or not to take it.”

“SII has made available five to six million Covovax doses even as the demand for it is still almost zero. We produced it keeping in mind if someone wants to take it in hospital, the person should be able to get it. We will produce the same amount of Covishield doses in the next two to three months,” Poonawalla said.

The doses produced by Serum will be made available in the market through private sector hospitals and not through government, Poonawala made it clear.

The Pune-based vaccine manufacturer had stopped manufacturing Covishield in December 2021. However, earlier this month, the company claimed it has restarted manufacturing of the vaccine amid rising numbers of cases of the virus infection. As per a health bulletin of the Maharashtra government on Friday, the XBB.1.16 variant of Omicron is currently the dominant strain in the state. The Centre on Friday asked eight states, including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, to maintain a strict watch and take preemptive action in any area of concern to control any emerging spread of infection.