No new Covishield orders, production to be halved from next week: SII's Poonawalla

India / No new Covishield orders, production to be halved from next week: SII's Poonawalla
India - No new Covishield orders, production to be halved from next week: SII's Poonawalla
MUMBAI: Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, on Tuesday said it is slashing production of Covishield by at least 50% from next week as the company has no further orders from the Centre.

“The company is in a dilemma as supply is more than demand for Covishield and it has to dial down the production. We will complete our existing orders to the government by next week. The company has written to the government for guidance on volumes needed,” CEO Adar Poonawalla said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

At present, SII is manufacturing close to 250-275 million doses a month. Poonawalla had told TOI in an interview in October that the production in November would go to 240 million doses, up from around 220 million. TNN

‘Serum has 500mn doses, awaiting govt to get back to us’

Earlier the company was rolling out about 100-110 million doses per month. In November, the company resumed exports of Covishield to Covax, the WHO-backed global platform, after halting them in March when the country was hit by a lethal second wave of infections.

“If the government doesn’t need it, SII will start exporting as I mentioned in Q1of 2021. Wehave recently explained this to the government and we have been discussing, so I think we will wait a few days for them to have their internal discussion and get back to us,” Poonawalla added, according to CNBC-TV18.

Serum has 500 million doses of Covishield—half of that is finished product and half of that is bulk, which can be filled and finished in a matter of two months, and it has a shelf life of nine months—and it is available on priority to the Indian government.

Pointing out that the export of Covishield is also slow currently, he said the export orders would pick up in the next quarter. “Over the eight months when we could not export, other countries managed supplies from donations from the US and elsewhere and we have lost a lot of share,” he said, adding that he is now going to try to claw the demand back in the first quarter of next year.

Disclaimer

अपनी वेबसाइट पर हम डाटा संग्रह टूल्स, जैसे की कुकीज के माध्यम से आपकी जानकारी एकत्र करते हैं ताकि आपको बेहतर अनुभव प्रदान कर सकें, वेबसाइट के ट्रैफिक का विश्लेषण कर सकें, कॉन्टेंट व्यक्तिगत तरीके से पेश कर सकें और हमारे पार्टनर्स, जैसे की Google, और सोशल मीडिया साइट्स, जैसे की Facebook, के साथ लक्षित विज्ञापन पेश करने के लिए उपयोग कर सकें। साथ ही, अगर आप साइन-अप करते हैं, तो हम आपका ईमेल पता, फोन नंबर और अन्य विवरण पूरी तरह सुरक्षित तरीके से स्टोर करते हैं। आप कुकीज नीति पृष्ठ से अपनी कुकीज हटा सकते है और रजिस्टर्ड यूजर अपने प्रोफाइल पेज से अपना व्यक्तिगत डाटा हटा या एक्सपोर्ट कर सकते हैं। हमारी Cookies Policy, Privacy Policy और Terms & Conditions के बारे में पढ़ें और अपनी सहमति देने के लिए Agree पर क्लिक करें।