Serum institute has assured that it will complete the order of 66 crore doses (File)
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 Centre announced that the export of surplus Covid vaccines will resume in the coming fourth quarter under the "Vaccine Maitri" programme, official sources said.
In a communication to the Centre on Monday, Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII), said the firm has enhanced its production capacity of Covishield and it will be able to supply 21.9 crore doses in October to the government and private hospitals.
The Pune-based pharmaceutical company has enhanced the manufacturing capacity of the vaccine to over 20 crore doses per month.
"Starting from January 2021, we have supplied 66.33 crore doses of Covishield to the Health Ministry in addition to the supply of over 7.77 crore doses to state governments and private hospitals till the evening of September 19.
"All this has become possible under the dynamic leadership and kind direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, continuous support from the Health Ministry and the Centre's teams, visionary leadership of CEO Dr Adar C Poonawalla, along with the untiring efforts of Team SIIPL," a source quoted Mr Singh as having communicated.
Prakash Kumar Singh further assured that by December 31, 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 December 31, 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.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday announced that India will resume the export of surplus Covid vaccines in the fourth quarter of 2021 under the"'Vaccine Maitri" programme and to meet its commitment to the COVAX global pool, but vaccinating its own citizens will remain the topmost priority of the government.
Talking about the expected production and supply trends in the coming months, the minister said the government will receive over 30 crore doses of the vaccines in October and over 100 crore doses in the coming quarter from October-December.
The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive have crossed 82 crores.
Of all the vaccine doses administered, around 88.45 per cent are Covishield, around 11.44% are Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and less than one per cent are Sputnik V.
India on September 17 administered a record number of over 2.50 crore doses on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 71st birthday.
According to official sources, over 22 per cent of India's adult population have received both doses of the vaccine and nearly 65 per cent have got at least one dose.