With Increasing Domestic Production Of COVID-19 Vaccines, Govt Unlikely To Procure Pfizer, Moderna Jabs: Report

With a significant increase in the domestic production of Covid-19 vaccines, India is unlikely to procure jabs from US vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna for now.

Earlier in June, India's drug regulator had approved Moderna's mRNA technology-based Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in the country to increase the vaccination coverage.

Pfizer had earlier this year said that it was ready to supply 5 crore shots in 2021 itself but wanted significant regulatory relaxations including indemnification.

However, the government is not ready to give in to the indemnity demands of the US drug manufacturers against liabilities in case of adverse effects, reports Economic Times.

Besides, the Indian vaccine makers including Serum Institue of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech had significantly increased their Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity.

The SII has enhanced the manufacturing capacity of Covishield to more than 20 crore doses per month and has informed the government that it will be able to supply around 22 crore doses in October.

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech is currently producing around 3 crores doses of Covaxin each month and is likely to ramp up the production of the indigenous Covid-19 vaccine up to 5 crore in coming months.

"In the initial days of the vaccination drive, there was requirement of jabs, but that has been met with the ramping up of domestic production. Also, these indigenously produced vaccines are much more affordable and do not have special cold chain requirements," a source was quoted in the report as saying.

It should be noted that India has so far administered over 83 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses across the country. Of all the vaccines administered, around 88.45 per cent are Covishield, nearly 11.44 per cent Covaxin and less than one per cent Sputnik V.