Will the vaccine manufacturers of India be able to make as much vaccine as they need?

Posted on 21st Apr 2021 by rohit kumar

On the one hand, India is trying to give vaccines to more and more people amidst the cases of fast-growing corona infection, on the other hand, India's main vaccine manufacturers are struggling to meet the needs domestically and internationally.

 

The Indian government has offered financial assistance to its vaccine manufacturers to speed up production.

 

The Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech are the two main vaccine manufacturers in India, which will receive $ 400 million (approximately 300 million) and 21 million dollars (approximately 1586 million) from the government, respectively.

 

Both these vaccine manufacturers make the vaccine named Covishield and Covaxine which are currently being used.

 

India had banned large-scale export of the vaccine in March to meet the requirements of the vaccination program on the domestic fronts.

 

However, vaccines are still being given in the form of grants to some countries. India has also promised to help under the vaccine sharing scheme globally.

 

India has now approved the import of foreign-made fishers, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

 

But none of these vaccine manufacturers have so far applied for 'Emergency Use License' in India.

 

However, amid reports of a lack of vaccine in several states of India, the Drug Controller of India has approved Russia's Sputnik V for emergency use.

 

According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is funding the research and development of Sputnik V, five pharmaceutical companies will manufacture it and produce 85 million vaccine doses annually in India.

 

These doses will be for both domestic market and export, although their production has not started yet.

 

Vaccine manufacturers complaints

 

The Serum Institute of India, which manufactures the Novavax and AstraZeneca vaccines, warned in March of a shortage of raw materials and blamed US export restrictions on certain items.

 

Last week, Adar Poonawala, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, appealed to US President Joe Biden to end the export ban on the raw materials used to make the vaccine.

 

The Indian firm 'Biological E', which manufactures the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, also raised concerns about the adverse impact on vaccine production due to fears of a lack of essential raw materials.

 

Why is America supplying less?

The Defense Production Act (DPA), enacted in the 1950s, gives the US President many powers to improve the country's economy and domestic situation in an emergency.

 

US President Joe Biden has banned the export of many items used as raw material to make vaccines using this law.

 

In early March, representatives of companies around the world making vaccines had expressed concern over the US President's decision that this could harm the global production of the vaccine.

 

Vaccine expert doctor Sarah Shifting at John More's University in Liverpool says that the 'pharmaceutical supply chain' is very complex.

 

She says, "When demand is high, new suppliers cannot meet demand as fast as other industries." New suppliers will not be trusted as much. ''

 

At the same time, she says, "The shortage in the supply of raw materials cannot be stopped to some extent where the demand for a product has increased all over the world."

 

Effect on vaccine production

Since January this year 17.5 crore doses of Covishield produced from Serum Institute of India have been used in domestic vaccination or have been exported.

 

The company claims that it is preparing 6-7 crore doses of the vaccine every month. These include doses of NovaVax developed in the US, which have not yet been licensed for use in India.

 

The target of preparing 100 million doses within a month has now been reached from March to June.

 

The Serum Institute of India had promised last year that it would give 200 million doses of Covax for the World Health Organization vaccine program. But so far he has been able to give only 30 million doses.

 

India has received one crore dose of vaccine so far under the Covax Agreement. The Global Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) says that the Serum Institute of India is bound to give the vaccine as per the agreement.

 

Gavi has also warned that it may be late for the countries involved in Covax to get the vaccine.

 

According to United Nations data, the Serum Institute of India has also entered into bilateral business agreements to deliver 90 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 14.5 million of Novavax.