Bharat Biotech has said it plans to produce additional 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine at its subsidiary's Ankleshwar in Gujarat based facility, taking overall production volume of the vaccine to 1 billion (100 crore) dosages per annum.
BJP president JP Nadda said that coronavirus vaccine will be available for all in the country by December.
There are two vaccine makers in the country currently -- Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India -- which are manufacturing Covaxin and Covishield, respectively. Only three vaccines have so far been approved to be sold in India --- Covaxin, Coveshield and Sputnik V.
Niti Aayog member VK Paul said Covaxin has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for phase II and III clinical trials in the age group of 2 to 18 years. “I have been told that trials will begin in the next 10-12 days," Dr Paul said.
Delhi on Tuesday received over 60,000 Covaxin doses for key workers and those aged above 45, AAP MLA Atishi said.
The clinical trials of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin in the age group of 2-18 years will begin in next 10-12 days, the government said Tuesday. The development comes days after India's apex drugs regulator granted permission for conducting the phase II/III clinical trials.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that once the devastating COVID-19 outbreak in India recedes, the Serum Institute of India will need to “get back on track and catch up” on its delivery commitments to COVAX, the global initiative to supply coronavirus vaccines to nations around the world.
AAP MLA Atishi Marlena on Monday said that the national capital was running out of vaccine stock. Raising an alarm, Atishi claimed that Delhi has less than a day's stock of Covaxin for 45-plus after Monday evening while Covisheild will last only for five days.
Bharat Biotech's Covaxin manufacturing facility is under construction in Kolar district of Karnataka.
Alerts have been raised in some countries on post-vaccination "embolic and thrombotic events" on 11 March, 2021 particularly with AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine (Covishield in India).
Telangana, which claims to have the capacity to give 10 lakh vaccines every day, is administering 30,000 to 40,000 vaccines daily due to the shortage. On May 14, the health authorities administered about 34,000 vaccines.
The first batch of anti-COVID drug 2-DG, developed by the DRDO, will be released on Monday (May 17) by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, officials said.
Requisite changes have now been made on the CoWIN digital portal, making online or on-site appointments for Covishield vaccine not possible if the period after first dose for a beneficiary is less than 84 days, it was announced on Sunday.
Delhi has so far received 44.94 lakh vaccine doses for this age group, of which 41.68 lakh have been administered, she said.
Hester Biosciences on Sunday said it has tied up with the Gujarat government to explore production of COVID-19 vaccine through technology transfer from Bharat Biotech. The Ahmedabad-based firm said it has already initiated the discussions with Bharat Biotech in this regard.
As per an infographic, a modest reduction in neutralisation by a factor of 1.95 was observed against the B.1.617 variant compared to the vaccine variant (D614G).
To ramp up production of Covaxin, the Gujarat government, along with Hester Biosciences and OmniBRx, has firmed up its discussions with Bharat Biotech to produce 20 million doses per month, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) said on Saturday.
A rapid vaccination drive continues to overcome coronavirus. As of now, Covaxin and Covshield are being administered across the country for people above 18 years of age. However, the burning question is -- are we completely safe after inoculation of two doses? Here's what LNGP Director Dr Suresh Kumar and Dr Kaushalkant Mishra of Fortis Hospital shared with India TV during Corona Control Conference.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country is nearly 18 crore. India is the fastest country globally to reach the 17 crore target in 114 days.
The Hyderabad-based vaccine major, which has come under fire from the Delhi government over supply-related issues, said it has also dispatched Covaxin lots to Kerala and Uttarakhand.
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