Bharat Biotech watching demand to resume Covaxin production

“Covaxin is available for supplies based on demand,” said Bharat Biotech as Covid-19 cases rise in India

Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech will wait and watch the demand before resuming production of the indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine, amid rising Covid-19 cases in India.

“Covaxin is available for supplies based on demand,” the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker said. It had, in early 2022, stopped production of Covaxin amid a declining offtake for the product as well as the number of viral infections cases.

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Also, over the past few months, around 50 million doses of Covaxin had to be destroyed “due to non-procurement, at a great loss for the company,” Bharat Biotech said in response to queries. The company’s wait-and-watch approach comes even as competitor Serum Institute of India resuming production of its COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield.

On Wednesday, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said the company has restarted manufacturing of Covishield amid number of cases of the infection on the rise. He had also said how vaccine manufacturers were ready with the stock but there has been little demand. SII had stopped manufacturing of the vaccine in December 2021, the agency said.

Bharat Biotech also indicated that it is a question of resuming production of Covaxin, as and when the need arises. “We have more than 200 million doses of Covaxin in bulk form,” the company said.

According to government of India a whopping 220.66 crore doses (of which 95.21 crore were second dose and 22.87 crore precaution or booster dose) had been administered in the country as part of the national vaccination drive. The number of vaccinations hover around a few hundreds daily in recent times. In an update on Wednesday, the Centre said 441 doses were administered in last 24 hours.