Mumbai-Based Haffkine Institute Gets Govt Nod To Produce Bharat Biotech's Covaxin Covid-19 Vaccine

In a positive development, the government on Thursday (15 April) gave permission to the Mumbai-based Haffkine Institute to begin the production of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine on a transfer of technology (ToT) basis, reports Economic Times.

The development comes as the Maharashtra government had earlier requested the Centre to give its for a deal between Haffkine Institute and Dr Krishna Ella led Bharat Biotech to produce Covaxin on a "fill and finish basis" or under some other arrangement.

Haffkine Institute has been allowed to produce Covaxin doses for a year. It should be noted that Maharashtra's Health Minister Rajesh Tope had said earlier that Haffkine Institute can produce as many as 22 crore vaccine doses a year if given permission.

Chief Minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray has asked Maharashtra's Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte to immediately appoint an official to ensure that Haffkine Institute completes the due process and starts production of Covaxin doses immediately.