Serum Institute of India (SII) will make 6-7 million doses of Covishield available in 90 days and it may take up to 9 months to build up the stock depending on demand.
Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Wednesday that the company has resumed production of the Covid 19 vaccine Covishield amid rising cases of the virus infection.
He said the company already has 6 million booster doses of the Covovax vaccine available and adults must get the booster shot.
“As a precaution, at risk we've done it so people have CoviShield as an option if they want it,” Mr. Poonawalla told PTI on resuming vaccine production.
He further said that Serum Institute of India (SII) will make 6-7 million doses of Covishield available in 90 days and it may take up to 9 months to build up the stock depending on the demand.
The company stopped manufacturing CoviShield in December 2021.
The resumption of production of CoviShield by SII comes at a time when the number of Covid-19 cases in the country is on the rise again.
India reported a one-day rise of 7,830 new coronavirus infections, the highest in 223 days, taking the number of active cases in the country to 40,215, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The death toll due to the disease also rose to 5,31,016 with 16 new deaths reported – two each in Delhi, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and one each in Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, and five settled by Kerala on Wednesday morning at 8 am. As per data updated at
Reacting to reports of shortage of Covid-19 vaccine amid rising cases, Mr. Poonawalla said that it is wrong to say that there is no stock and to give a wrong picture to people.
“Enough stock is available from all manufacturers,” he asserted.
On the other hand, he said, “There is no demand… that's why hospitals have no stock. It's not that vaccine manufacturers aren't interested in making them. We are interested in making it, if there is a demand of course. It is a common standard practice.”
About Covovax which is approved as a booster dose for 18 years and above, he said, "We have 60 lakh doses ready but currently the demand is absolutely zero."
Mr. Poonawala stressed that adults and the elderly "have the best booster to take Covovex" because it has "great neutralizing" antibodies to the Omicron and XBB types of the virus.
Encouraging people to take a booster dose, he said, “The point I am trying to make is that private citizens, who should wear masks and the elderly, especially, should stay indoors and take a precautionary dose. They have to come.”
"If that doesn't happen, hospitals will not be asked to order manufacturers."
He further said that there are other vaccines approved on the CoWin app and SII's Covovax vaccine was also approved two days ago, adding that people need to go to vaccination centers to get the booster dose.
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