Amid the reports of coronavirus vaccine shortage from various states, the Central government and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech are willing to invite other companies which want to produce COVAXIN in a bid to scale up the vaccine production, said NITI Aayog member, Dr VK Paul, on Thursday.
However, Dr Paul also stressed that COVAXIN can only be produced in the Biosafety level 3 (BSL3) labs.
“There has been a suggestion from people that Covaxin formula can be given to other companies for manufacturing. I am happy to say Bharat Biotech, the company manufacturing Covaxin, has welcomed this when we discussed it with them. This vaccine is made by inactivating the live SARS-CoV2 virus, which is done only in BSL3 laboratories,” Paul said.
“Not every company has this facility. Covaxin has been developed by Bharat Biotech in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research. We have already given this proposal to all companies, and we again give an open invitation to companies or whosoever wants to manufacture Covaxin. The companies should do it together, and the government is ready to assist in all possible ways,” Paul said.
Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Centre should share the vaccine formula of Covaxin and Covishield with other capable pharmaceutical companies to scale up production in the country.
The statement came on a day when the government announced it hoped to have more than 200 crore doses of coronavirus vaccines between August to December this year amid criticism that the government had mishandled the vaccine plan.
