Amid complaint by states about the vaccine shortage, the Serum Institute of India said it will be able to manufacture and supply nine to 10 crore doses of Covishield in June. This is a significant jump from the 79.4 million doses that were available in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quoting letter written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah the Pharmaceutical firm informed the Centre on Sunday. In the letter, Prakash Kumar Singh, the director of government and regulatory affairs at the Serum Institute, noted that the production capacity of the firm was 6.5 crore doses in May, which will be increased to provide 9-10 doses in June. Singh said that the company\u2019s employees have been working round the clock despite facing various challenges because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Singh also thanked Shah for his valuable guidance and continuous support at various stages of their endeavour to make India Aatmanirbhar (self-sufficient) in Covid-19 vaccines and making it available for the people of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The director assured the home minister that it will utilise all its resources to increase the capacity of the vaccine for July too. In early May, the Serum Institute had told the Centre that it would boost the production of Covishield by up to 6.5 crore in June, 7 crore in July and 10 crore each in August and September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India is currently using Serum Institute\u2019s Covishield and Bharat Biotech\u2019s Covaxin for vaccinating its citizens. The Drugs Controller General of India has also approved Russia\u2019s Sputnik V vaccine, which is only being administered at a few private hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Serum Institute\u2019s decision to ramp up production comes amid a vaccine shortage in the country, which has severely curtailed India\u2019s inoculation drive. Several states are seeking to procure vaccines through global tenders or by approaching manufacturers directly. Some administrations have complained that global vaccine makers had refused to coordinate with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Till now, India has administered 212 million doses, the most after China and the United States. However, only about 3% of the population received both the doses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n