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As more and more states flag shortage of COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Central government has pressed the accelerator to scale up vaccine production manifold.
Top government sources told news agency that by end of the third quarter of this year, India will be getting vaccines from five additional manufacturers. India currently manufactures Covishield and Covaxin.
Explaining the new strategy to manufacture additional vaccine doses, a source said “India currently has 2 COVID-19 vaccines being manufactured locally: Covishield and Covaxin, and we can expect five more vaccines by Q3 2021. These vaccines are the Sputnik V vaccine (in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s), Johnson & Johnson vaccine (in collaboration with Biological E), Novavax vaccine (in collaboration with Serum India), Zydus Cadila’s vaccine, and Bharat Biotech’s Intranasal Vaccine. Safety and efficacy are the Union government’s primary concerns while granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to any COVID-19 vaccine in the country.” Out of almost 20 COVID-19 vaccines in various clinical and pre-clinical stages, the Sputnik V vaccine will get the nod first. It is expected that Sputnik is likely to get the EUA within the next ten days.
When asked from a top-level source when will the vaccines be available for use, he said, “Sputnik is expected to be available latest by June, if all goes well Johnson and Johnson ( Bio E) will be available by August, Cadilla Zydus will also be available by August, Novavex (Serum) by September and Nasal Vaccine (Bharat) by October.” The Government is making all efforts to accelerate the progress without cutting any corners in research, development, and clinical trial stages, the source added.
