India is likely to take at least three to four months to complete Covid-19 inoculation efforts for front-line workers and people over 60 or with underlying health conditions, the executive director of the Serum Institute said on Thursday. of India.
In January, the South Asian country launched the world’s largest vaccination campaign for some 300 million people out of its massive 1.3 billion population. As of Wednesday evening, more than 36 million people have been inoculated by data from India’s health ministry.
“The number of doses required in India is huge,” Suresh Jadhav told CNBC’s “Capital Connection,” adding that the vaccination program is a gigantic task impossible to complete in a short period of time.
“At a rate of between 50 and 60 million doses per month, this program will continue and cover this population of 300 million in another three to four months,” he said.
Jadhav participated this week in the Southeast Asian Development Symposium of the 2021 Asian Bank.
The Pune Serum Institute, based in India, has become a crucial player in Covid vaccination efforts both in India and globally. It is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume and manufactures the Covid-19 vaccine developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University, known locally as Covishield.
It has provided millions of doses to the Indian government, as well as Covax, a global vaccination initiative led by the World Health Organization and others to ensure equitable distribution of traits to less affluent countries.
An exterior view of the Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. preparing the Covid-19 vaccine in Hadapsar on November 23, 2020 in Pune, India.
Pratham Gokhale | Hindustan Times | Getty Images
In response to growing demand for the Covid vaccine, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla last month called on foreign governments to be patient and said that without further explanation, the company had been told which first satisfied domestic demand.
Jadhav explained that the Serum Institute is able to fulfill the current orders made by the Indian government and said it has already supplied about 59 million doses to Covax. He added that Serum Institute plans to expand its capacity in late April or early May, when it aims to increase production by another 40 to 50 million doses.
Currently, the Serum Institute can produce more than 70 million doses a month.
Last week, the United States, Japan and Australia pledged to help Indian companies expand their Covid vaccine production capacities and provide more doses to the global supply chain.
India also uses a locally developed vaccine from Bharat Biotech that was created in collaboration with the State Medical Research Council of India.