Covaxin Has Reached "30 Cities In 30 Days": Bharat Biotech Amid Shortages

Last week, Suchitra Ella had tweeted that Bharat Biotech is looking at ramping up the production of homegrown Covaxin

Covaxin Has Reached '30 Cities In 30 Days': Bharat Biotech Amid Shortages

Homegrown Covaxin is one of the three vaccines India has cleared so far.

New Delhi:

New shipments of Covaxin have reached 30 cities in the past 30 days, Bharat Biotech tweeted on Monday, as a shortage of doses continues to be a challenge in India's fight against coronavirus.

"COVAXIN reaches 30 cities within 30 day. All our employees are committed, working 24x7 thru lockdowns for the country's immunisation - pls send your prayers to their families, Some are still quarantined & off work (sic)," Suchitra Ella, co-founder and Joint Managing Director of the Hyderabad-based firm, tweeted.

Last week, Ms Ella tweeted that Bharat Biotech is looking at ramping up the production of the homegrown Covaxin with another plant in Gujarat. The firm plans to "produce 200 million doses of Covaxin per annum" in the facilities already operational, a statement she shared on Twitter said.

Bharat Biotech has been under fire for supply-related issues.

India is trying to step up the vaccination drive as it fights a deadly second Covid wave. Many states are looking at global tender route to meet the shortfall in required doses.
 

Delhi and Punjab - two of several states to try and offset that shortage by importing vaccines - have said their requests were turned down by US firms Pfizer and Moderna. The international pharma giants insisted on dealing directly with the central government.

The country's drug regulator has so far cleared two more vaccines apart from Covaxin - Serum Institute of India's Covishield, developed in partnership with the Oxford University and British firm AstraZeneca, and Russia's Sputnik V.

Bharat Biotech has said its vaccine Covaxin is effective against the aggressively virulent B.1.167 strain of Covid detected in India and the UK variant of the virus B.1.1.7.

The vaccine maker has also sought emergency use approval from the World Health Organisation. WHO, meanwhile, said more information is required for the process.