Pune: Bharat Biotech International Ltd, based in Hyderabad, will soon start manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines in Pune, through subsidiary Biovet Pvt Ltd, Deputy Prime Minister Maharashtra announced on Friday.
“It will take about three months before the company starts producing vaccines,” Pawar told reporters in the media.
The state will also request the BBIL to give preference to the vaccination of vaccines to Maharashtra after fulfilling its obligations to the center.
The development comes days after Saurabh Raot, Pune Divisional Commissioner, and collector Rajesh Deshmukh toured the 11-acre plus site in Manjari Khurd where the manufacturing plant begins. This follows a ruling by the High Court Bank in Bombay, consisting of Judge KK Tated and Judge Nitin Borkar in a plea of the Biovet Pvt Ltd.
The Manjari Khurd facility arose on land granted by the state government in 1973 to a private company to produce vaccines for the food and cloister.
Later, however, the company ceased its operations here and bound with Biovet Pvt Ltd for the transfer of the land and the plant, to which the Maharashtra Forest Department objected.
With the legal problems behind them, the factory officials are optimistic that the facility in Manjari Khurd will be fully functional by the end of August to expand the much-needed Covid-19 doses.
The government is currently one of the two Indian companies, along with the private Serum Institute of India Ltd (SIL) which manufactures the Covaxin and Covishield vaccines respectively.
A Department of Health official said the factory has the full infrastructure, as well as expertise and manpower, and that it could begin vaccination within the next 3-4 months, although the exact amount of doses is not yet known. .
Biovet Pvt Ltd teams are currently investigating and evaluating the complete infrastructure installed there, the production line and processes that will be completed within a week to ensure safe production at the plant.
Officials say the production of the new facility here will boost the ongoing requirements for the nationwide vaccination currently underway with Maharashtra, which has vaccinated the total number of people so far – 1,93,12,943.
Source: The Siasat Daily