PremiumSuchitra Ella, Joint Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, on Thursday, said the Hyderabad-based company has supplied 75 million doses of Covaxin so far and more will be supplied this month.
The Bharat Biotech official said that Covaxin has 65% efficacy against the B.1.617.2 delta variant of Covid-19. “Our second site is at Ankleshwar-based manufacturing plant. Sample batches are ready, it'll go to CDL Kasauli this month for quality testing," Ella added.
Last month, the vaccine maker said it has committed to supply over 500 million doses of Covaxin to the government under the nationwide immunisation programme.
Speaking at a virtual meet organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Ella said the firm facilities in four cities - Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Ankleshwar - are currently producing Covaxin.
"In a nutshell, if I have to tell you, this is the journey of Covaxin from April 2020 until June 2021. And it is still ongoing as we continue to manufacture, taking a commitment of more than 50 crore (500 million) of doses to be submitted to the government of India for its immunisation programme," Ella had said narrating the journey of Covaxin.
Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar had said in Parliament that from January to July 16, 5.45 crore (54.5 million) doses of Covaxin by Bharat Biotech and 36.01 (360 million) crore doses of Covishield have been supplied by the Serum Institute of India to the Centre.
Ella said the data of Phase 3 trials has been submitted to the Drug Controller General of India for its perusal and the efficacy of the vaccine against many of the coronavirus variants was also tested.
Covaxin demonstrated 77.8% effectiveness against symptomatic coronavirus and 65.2% protection against the B.1.617.2 Delta variant, Bharat Biotech said recently, while announcing the final analysis of the jab.
It had said the Efficacy Analysis demonstrates Covaxin to be 93.4% effective against severe symptomatic Covid-19 cases. The MD further said that when it comes to vaccines not only for Covid-19, India, when compared to some other countries, has more capacity to produce vaccines in large numbers.
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