Vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (File image: AP Photo/Ted S Warren, File)

Pharma firm Wockhardt has approached the Indian government for help in tying up with COVID-19 vaccine makers, sources have told CNBC-TV18.

The company has informed the government that it has three facilities which can be repurposed to manufacture vaccines, the sources said, adding that specifically, the Mumbai-based pharma player is seeking collaborations with vaccines using BSL1 and BSL2 technology, they said.

Wockhardt has said that it has the capacity to produce up to 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines a year and can have an initial output of 500 million doses ready by February 2022, the Indian Express reported.

A formal submission was made in early May and the Centre was “examining the offer”, the IE report added. A source told the newspaper that the idea was to produce two billion doses of two-three vaccines to create “sustainable” supply.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the reports.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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COVID-19 Vaccines | Wockhardt offers to produce 2 billion vaccine doses annually: Report

A formal submission was made earlier in May and the Centre is “examining the offer”.

Vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (File image: AP Photo/Ted S Warren, File)

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