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COVID-19 update | Bharat Biotech announces COVAXIN capacity expansion to support vaccination campaigns in… – Moneycontrol.com

The capacity expansion has been implemented across multiple facilities in Hyderabad and Bangalore, to reach over 700 million doses per year, which are one of the largest production capacities for inactivated viral vaccines worldwide.

File image of the Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine

Bharat Biotech on April 20 announced the COVAXIN capacity expansion to support vaccination campaigns in India and worldwide amid the surge in COVID-19 cases.

The capacity expansion has been implemented across multiple facilities in Hyderabad and Bangalore, to reach over 700 million doses per year, which are one of the largest production capacities for inactivated viral vaccines worldwide.

Currently, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is producing 4 million doses of Covaxin a month, while Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) is producing 60 million doses of Covishield.

Govt gives ‘advance’ of around Rs 4,500 crore to Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech

Earlier on April 19, reports arrived that the Union government had approved an advance of around Rs 1,500 crore to Bharat Biotech and Rs Rs 3,000 crore to SII for the supply of Covaxin and Covishield by the respective companies over the next 2-3 months. Reports even state that the the amounts had been given as a grant.

Since under the General Financial Rules of the central government, such huge advances are not given to contractors or for-profit companies without the latter furnishing a bank guarantee or collateral, the Union Finance Ministry had relaxed the general financial rules and permitted the Ministry of Health to pay, if they so wish, to make advance payment to vaccine suppliers, without the bank guarantee, an official said.

Meanwhile, on April 16, the Hyderabad-based biotechnology had said that it is facing challenges in procuring a key chemical — ‘adjuvant’ — used in manufacturing Covaxin, as it is mostly sourced from the United States. Reports even claimed that Bharat Biotech is using ViroVax’s Alhydroxiquim-II adjuvant in Covaxin, an inactivated vaccine, to boost the immune response.

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