The Covishield vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh / Bloomberg
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh / Bloomberg
India says it can increase its production of Covid-19 vaccines to 500 million a month for export as it generates interest from the UK, Belgium and Middle East and African countries seeking access to more inoculations. economic.
The nation of South Asia has the capacity to drive the production of The AstraZeneca Plc vaccine is produced locally by the Serum Institute of India Ltd, as well as a locally developed plan, expected demand to increase by the end of this week, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the talks are still ongoing. in progress. South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria are among African nations in talks for supplies, they said.
On Wednesday, New Delhi began sending vaccines to six neighboring countries (Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Maldives and Seychelles) and awaits regulatory clearances from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius to send the shots, the foreign ministry said. ‘India said in a statement Tuesday. The ministry spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Read: Mass transmission of vaccines to India begins despite safety concerns
All vaccines sent throughout the neighborhood are grants and will cover health care providers, front-line workers, and the most vulnerable in South Asian nations. Letters of intent for more countries are expected on Wednesday.
More European countries have shown interest in acquiring vaccines produced in India, given the average cost of $ 35 Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE i Modern shots, according to officials. Serum, the world’s largest producer of volume vaccines, can ship the Astra vaccine at a price of $ 5 to $ 10 per dose.
Currently, the Pune-based company can expel 65 million shots of Covid a month, but has the capacity to increase it to 100 million doses, said a Serum official, who asked that they not be fired. called because the information was private. He expects the government to place delivery orders in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka later Wednesday.
Adverse effects
But even nations that have ordered 20 million doses to be sent to the immediate neighborhood of India and the Middle East are waiting until the end of this week to get data on the adverse effects of Covishield serum vaccines that l ‘India has started administering before placing final orders on them, according to officials.
India has also granted an early use license to the local company Covaxin, of Bharat Biotech International Ltd, fired although it has not yet cleared the final phase tests. So far, all shipments outside India have been candidates for the serum vaccine, officials said, adding that the final demand for the two vaccines will depend on their safety data.
India, the world’s second most virus-affected nation with more than 10.5 million infections and 152,718 reported deaths, kicked off the world’s largest inoculation campaign on Saturday. Of the 674,835 people vaccinated nationwide this Wednesday, nine people have required hospitalization for adverse effects, according to government data.
India is also preparing to make a shipment to Brazil, which lagged behind last week, people said. The South American nation is among a handful of countries that have received personal guarantees from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the supply of vaccines, they said.
– With the assistance of Ragini Saxena
(Updates with virus data in paragraph 10.)