Centre pins hopes on 5 Covid vaccines apart from Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik
By December 2021, the government estimates to have over two billion doses of eight Covid-19 vaccines, out of which 5 are made in India.
India is hoping to produce at least two billion vaccine doses against Covid-19 by the end of this year, Niti Aayog (health) member VK Paul has said. While Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India will ramp up their production, the government is hoping to start the production of several other vaccines which are in the pipeline. The tentative list presented by the government comprises eight vaccines, including Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V. The Russian vaccine will be available in the market from early next week, Dr Paul said. But apart from these three vaccines, with which people are familiar now, the government is hoping to get five more vaccines. Among them, four will be made in India, Dr Paul said.
Over 2 billion vaccines to be available by Dec: Centre
Here is all you need to know about these 5 emerging vaccines:
Bio E Subunit vaccine: It is a subunit vaccine which is in the third phase of trial. In the phase 1/2 trial, the vaccine was found to be safe and well-tolerated. The vaccine is very promising, Dr Paul said. The Centre is hoping to get 30 crore doses of this vaccine between August and December, provided it gets authorisation. "You may say this is optimistic. Yes, of course. Is there a chance that this might not happen? Yes, there is. But work is going on," Dr Paul said.
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Zydus Cadila DNA vaccine: It is in the last leg of phase 3 trial and will soon apply for the licence, Dr Paul said. It is a three-dose vaccine and will be administered using a needle-free technology.
Novavax/Covavax: Pune's Serum Institute of India will manufacture this vaccine, developed by the US's Novavax.
Bharat Biotech's nasal vaccine: This is a single shot, a needle-free vaccine that Bharat Biotech is developing. The vaccine is in the 1/2 trial phase. "They have started working. Data came from the company," Dr Paul said assuring that these are not random projections.
Gennova mRNA vaccine: Pune's Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is developing this messenger RNA vaccine. Pfizer and Moderna are also mRNA vaccines.
Out of these five vaccines, four are Indian while Covavax is being developed abroad, though it will be produced by India's Serum Institue.
Apart from these, vaccines made in foreign countries can also become available in India as the government has always been in touch with Pfizer, Moderna etc. The tranche of Sputnik vaccine that arrived from India will be available in the market from ext week, while the production of Sputnik in India by Dr Reddy's Laboratories will begin in July.