Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is seeking international manufacturing partners as it targets a billion doses of its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin each year even as the first commercial batch of the jab was released on Sunday by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya from the pharma company’s new plant at Ankleshwar in Gujarat’s Bharuch district. The jabs manufactured at Ankleshwar facility will be available for supply starting September 2021.
Covaxin is one of the five vaccines that have been approved for emergency use approval in India. However, Bharat Biotech has struggled to boost output, missing supply commitments to the Indian government.
“We want to ensure that Bharat Biotech can ably meet the demand for Covaxin such that individuals across the country, and the globe, have access to the vaccine,” the company’s chairman and managing director Krishna Ella said in a statement here.
On Sunday, the company rolled out the first batch of Covaxin shots from a facility in Ankleshwar in western India that has the capacity to produce more than 1 crore doses per month.
After the launch, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said: “We want to ensure equitable access of the vaccine to every Indian citizen, and the expansion of Covaxin production facilities by Bharat Biotech will take us closer to this goal.”
He took to Twitter to talk about the importance of vaccination drive in fighting the pandemic and said the launch “will increase the supply of vaccine in the country and will help in reaching the vaccine to every Indian.”
Bharat Biotech has already deployed multiple production lines at its Hyderabad, Malur, Bengaluru, and Pune campuses. “We want to ensure that Bharat Biotech can ably meet the demand for Covaxin such that individuals across the country, and the globe, have access to the vaccine and can secure their health and safety. Our goal to develop a vaccine with global safety and efficacy standards has now been achieved, we are now marching towards the goal of the annualised capacity of one billion doses,” said Ella.
Presently major share of Covid-19 vaccination drive is being handled by the Serum Institute of India which has provided over 55 crore Covishield jabs with Bharat Biotech lagging far behind by contributing just over 7 crore jabs of Covaxin till now since January 16 when the national programme was launched.