Nationwide trials of a Covid-19 vaccine distribution system at a vaccination center in Delhi, India.
Photographer: T. Narayan / Bloomberg
Photographer: T. Narayan / Bloomberg
He Serum Institute of India Ltd., which produces the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University expect the Indian government to sign a formal supply and pricing agreement in the days following the approval of the emergency shooting.
New Delhi officials have “orally indicated” that the first 100 million vaccines will be bought and priced at 200 rupees ($ 2.74) and that an agreement should be signed “in the next two or two days” , said Serum CEO Adar Poonawalla. an interview on Sunday. “It will probably take another 200 million later, and we will probably end up selling on the private market,” which could be approved in “two or three months” at 1,000 rupees the vaccine, he said.
India’s general drugs controller, VG Somani, in a briefing earlier Sunday confirmed the restricted approval of the Astra-Oxford shooting. The move came just days after the British regulator authorized the vaccine and is the first step in inoculating some 1.3 billion citizens in the country where the world’s second-largest Covid-19 outbreak is located.
“They just want to make sure they have enough products to start with for the most vulnerable and needy,” Poonawalla said. “We are waiting for two things: how much they want and where they want it. Once they give us this direction within 7 to 10 days of our commitment, we will implement it. “
Serum, which is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, has an agreement with AstraZeneca to produce at least a billion doses. The company has already made $ 70 million, Poonawalla said, adding that an initial production goal of 100 million in December had to be reduced due to a delay in approvals.
“In fact, I stopped production because of regulatory delays and uncertainty because I don’t know how much to pack,” he said. “Assign a shelf life to production when you decide to pack it and I have nowhere to store it; we are building a new warehouse, which will still take a year and a half, although we started in March building it.”
Poonawalla also hopes to begin supplying the vaccine to Covax, the World Health Organization-backed organization that buys lives for poor nations, in early March. The serum will likely send 20 million initial doses before being reduced to about 50 million in a month, he said.
The regulator of India also gave restricted approval to Covaxin Bharat Biotech International Ltd., which has been funded in part by the Government of India and has not yet completed the phase three trials. Somani said Covaxin received the headache, so India, which has 10.3 million confirmed infections, had more vaccination options in case mutant strains appear.
Effectiveness, faith
Bharat Biotech said last month that it had already produced approximately 10 million doses ahead of its planned release in mid-2021. The company claims that its inactivated vaccine candidate using a dead version of the virus has efficacy rates of at least 60%, although it has not yet published data publicly and is awaiting a peer review in an international health journal.
Although the move to give limited approval to Bharat Biotech vaccine was hailed as a “giant leap for innovation and development of new products in India” by the company’s joint general manager, Krishna Ella, in a statement on Sunday, the regulatory gesture has been criticized.
“Approval was premature and could be dangerous,” Shashi Tharoor, a senior opposition lawmaker, said on Twitter. “Its use should be avoided until the full tests are completed. In the meantime, India can start with the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
Poonawalla declined to comment on Bovat Biotech’s approval of Covaxin, but said only AstraZeneca vaccines, Moderna Inc. i Pfizer Inc. it had “efficacy and evidence: anything else is faith,” he said. “Let time tell if it works and then we can comment on how good or bad they are.”
Pfizer is still awaiting approval of its vaccine by India. Its need for ultra-cold storage makes it an unlikely candidate for widespread use across India. Both Bharat and Serum vaccines can be stored at refrigerator temperature, making them more suitable for the country’s health infrastructure.
(Updates with Serum CEO comments from the second paragraph, details on Bharat Biotech approval from the eighth.)