Covid-19 vaccine in India: Bharat Biotech aims at making 700 mn doses in 2021

Hyderabad-based drug firm Bharat Biotech, said on Monday that it is aiming to produce 700 million doses of its indigenously produced Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin this year.

The announcement came a day after the vaccine manufacturer received approval for "restricted" emergency use authorization use from Drugs Controller General of India.

"Currently, we have 20 million doses. We are aiming to achieve 700 million doses capacity in four facilities,' he informed," Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, said.

Ella also said that the vaccine manufacturer company expects to release the efficacy data of Covaxin's Phase 3 trials, which are currently ongoing, by March. The drug regulator has also allowed Bharat Biotech to conduct its trials on children who are above the age of 12 years.

On Sunday, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved, Covishield, a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Serum Institute of India and Covaxin for emergency use in the country.

This approval for emergency usage has been criticised by various people claiming the vaccine approval for restricted use during trials is "premature" and can prove dangerous.

In the press conference, the chairman Dr Krishna Ella addressed several queries on row over the vaccine's approval when it was still under "clinical trial mode."

To that, he said that its vaccine is safe and the company is conducting trials in more than 12 countries apart from India. “We are not a company without experience in vaccines. We have tremendous experience in vaccine."

"People are talking to backlash on Indian companies. That is not done for us. I don't know why Indian companies are targeted by everyone in the world," Ella said in defence.

He also said that his company's work is no less than Pfizer, which also came out with a vaccine for coronavirus.

The approval for COVAXIN, jointly developed with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), was hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers as a success in India's self-reliance push.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan clarified on Twitter on Sunday that the emergency use approval for COVAXIN was "in clinical trial mode", wherein all recipients of the vaccine would be tracked and monitored as if they are in trial.