India to Export Surplus Covid Vaccine

CEO Adar Poonawalla of the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) said on Monday that he is waiting for a central government order to begin the shipment of Covid-19 vaccines to the rest of the world. They need to be quick as the company has a backlog of billion-dollar vaccine doses. Poonawalla stated that the company plans to submit for Covovax emergency use authorization in India before the end of this year. 

The SII has a billion-dollar backlog of vaccination doses that have yet to be exported. They are currently waiting for an order.  We'll wait for a government directive on when and how Covid-19 vaccine exports can resume, shared the CEO. In India, we have invested between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000 crore in the development of Covid vaccination capacity. The government's advance payment of Rs 1,500 crore has aided us, he added. 

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Recently, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced that India will resume exporting surplus Covid-19 vaccines next month as part of the Vaccine Maitri program and to meet its commitment to the COVAX global pool. Having said that, immunization of Indians is most important and the government will focus on that. 

India will receive more than 30 crore doses in the coming month. Also, the Covovax vaccine is ready for the Indian market and as soon as Emergency authorization is done, it will be available.