The Serum Institute of India (SII) has informed the Centre that it will be able to supply around 22 crore doses of Covishield in October as the Union government has announced resuming export of surplus Covid vaccines in the coming fourth quarter under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ programme, official sources said.
In a communication to the Centre recently, Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, SII, said the firm has enhanced its production capacity of Covishield and it will be able to supply 21.90 crore doses in October to the Government of India and private hospitals.
The Pune-based pharmaceutical company has enhanced the manufacturing capacity of Covishield to more than 20 crore doses per month.
“Starting from January 2021, we have supplied 66.33 crore doses of Covishield to MoHFW, Government of India in addition to supply of more than 7.77 crore doses to state governments and private hospitals till the evening of 19th September, 2021.
“All this has become possible under the dynamic leadership and kind direction of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji, continuous support from team Ministry of Health and GoI, visionary leadership of our CEO, Dr Adar C Poonawalla, along with untiring efforts of Team SIIPL,” a source quoted Singh as having communicated.
Singh further assured that by 31st December, keeping with the timeline, the firm will complete the recent supply order of 66 crore doses.
“At this juncture, I can assure you that by 31st December, 2021, we will complete supply of 66 crore doses of Covishield against the recent order and will touch supplies of more than 130 crore doses of Covishield in the year 2021. We are working relentlessly to fulfill our prime minister’s dream for successful completion of world’s largest vaccination drive so that our country overcomes COVID-19 pandemic,” the communication stated.