Bharat Biotech, SII halt COVID-19 vaccine production amidst low demand

Bharat Biotech International Limited and Serum Institute of India have reportedly halted their COVID-19 vaccine production in the country and will instead focus on non-Covid vaccines. The development comes after the demand for vaccines slips given the low infection rates across the country.

For those unaware, both firms combined have accounted for more than 98.36% of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India, including 1.51 billion doses of Covishield and 300 million Covaxin doses.

However, both companies have now temporarily halted their COVID-19 vaccine production as the demand for the vaccines decreased, with no new orders from the Government of India since their supply commitment ended on 31st March. Bharat Biotech has completed all its supply commitments whereas SII has stored 250 million doses of Covishield in its Pune facility.

In December 2021, SII hinted that it owns 500 million doses of Covishield, half of which are finished while the remaining bulk doses were not converted to the formulation. SII will not be making Covishield doses anymore as it already has enough stock to cater to both domestic and international demands.

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech will focus on making rabies and polio vaccines. It is worth noting that Bharat Biotech had remodeled its Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Ankleshwar plants to make Covaxin. It is currently working on setting up GSKs Plasmodium falciparum malaria vaccine’s manufacturing site, which the company is producing for African countries.

Meanwhile, SII is strategizing to redeploy its installed capacity after the demand for COVID-19 vaccines decreased and now it is planning to produce vaccines for HPV, pneumonia, and malaria within the next few months to take care of capacity utilization.

Sources claimed that SII is planning to go into the production of the malaria vaccine by the end of 2022 and is now in phase 3 clinical trials in Africa with licensure expected by 2023.

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https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/covid-vaccine-firms-halt-production-as-demand-slips-focus-on-non-covid-vax-122040400024_1.html