Covaxin Maker Bharat Biotech Seeks Govt Aid To Expand Its Covid-19 Vaccine Manufacturing Capacity: Report

Hyderabad-based vaccine maker Bharat Biotech is said to have reached out to the government's Department of Biotechnology (DBT) for support of Rs 100 crore to ramp up its capacity for manufacturing of Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine, reports Economic Times.

Dr Krishna Ella led company is meanwhile also likely to tweak its existing capacity to boost production. It is also diverting its existing production lines to produce more Covaxin doses as the demand for the same is expected to further surge as the government is expanding the Covid vaccination by including all people aged above 45 under the inoculation drive.

Meanwhile, the DBT's Secretary Renu Swaroop has said that even though she has not yet seen the company's letter, the government is ready to provide assistance under the Mission Covid Suraksha scheme which is meant to support the research and development of COVID-19 vaccines. She emphasised that the scheme is meant for such cases only.

This comes at a time when members of an inter-ministerial group formed by the government recently visited the company's facilities in Hyderabad and Bengaluru to understand the challenges it may be facing in scaling up production.

Developed by Bharat Biotech in close collaboration with the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and Pune based National Institute of Virology (NIV), Covaxin is one of the two vaccine candidates which have received authorisation from the government for administration under the ongoing national inoculation drive.