Govt Plans To Increase Covaxin Production Capacity To 6-7 Crore Doses Per Month By July-August

In a positive development, the government is planning to give a massive fillip to the production of Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech's Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine, reports Economic Times.

The government is aiming to raise the production of Covaxin to six-seven crore doses per month by July-August by expanding the vaccine manufacturing to two more facilities in Hyderabad and Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr, backed by a Rs 120 crore funding support.

In Hyderabad, the production would be taken up by public sector enterprises Indian Immunologicals Limited while the Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Limited (BIBCOL) will manufacture the vacicne in UP's Bulandshahr.

The production in these two facilities would come in addition to the Bharat Biotech's existing facility in Hyderabad and at its repurposed unit in Bengaluru. Besides, the vaccine will also be produced by Maharashtra government-owned Haffkine Institute.

However, it should be noted that the production at Haffkine Institute is likely to take a long time given the company has asked for 12 months to complete the task. The government has meanwhile asked the company to shorten the time frame to six months.

"The current production capacity of indigenously developed Covaxin vaccine will be doubled by May-June 2021 and then increased nearly 6-7 fold by July-August 2021 i.e increasing the production from 1 crore vaccine doses in April, 2021 to 6-7 crore vaccine dose/month in July–August," the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Friday (16 April).

The Covaxin production is expected to reach nearly 10 crore doses per month by September 2021, the ministry added.