‘Disheartening’, says Bharat Biotech as state govts question company's intentions with Covaxin supply

It is quite disheartening to listen to some states complaining about Bharat Biotech's intentions regarding the supply of COVID vaccine Covaxin, a top company official said on Wednesday.

In a tweet, Bharat Biotech Joint Managing Director Suchitra Ella said the company has already dispatched Covaxin lots to 18 states on 10 May.

Covaxin dispatched 10/5/21.18 states have been covered thou in smaller shipments. Quite disheartening to the teams to hear Some states complaining about our intentions. 50 of our employees are off work due to covid, yet we continue to work under pandemic lockdowns 24x7 for U 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/FmQl4vtqXC

— suchitra ella (@SuchitraElla) May 11, 2021

The Hyderabad-based firm is supplying Covaxin to 18 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi. Other states are Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Bharat Biotech has informed the state government that it cannot provide "additional" Covaxin doses to the National Capital.

The stock of Covaxin in Delhi has finished and as a result around 100 vaccination centres set up in 17 schools have been closed, he said.

"The Covaxin manufacturer has in a letter said that it cannot provide Delhi government vaccines due to unavailability, under the instruction of concerned government official. It means that the central government is controlling the supply of the vaccine," Sisodia said.

He also said the Centre should stop the export of vaccines and share the vaccine formulae of the two manufacturers in the country with other companies for mass-scale production.