Two weeks after Bharat Biotech received permission from the drug regulator to produce Covaxin at its plant at Ankleshwar in Gujarat, the Hyderabad-based company has released the first batch of the vaccine produced at its newly constructed plant.
The Ankleshwar plant would help increase the availability of Covid-19 vaccines in the country and stimulate the world’s largest vaccination drive.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya took to Twitter to announce that Bharat Biotech has released its first batch of the Indian-made vaccine on Sunday.
https://twitter.com/mansukhmandviya/status/1431845208895885314?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwEarlier, Bharat Biotech had signed deals with three public sector enterprises (PSEs) – Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd, Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL) and Bharat Immunologicals Biologicals Corporation Ltd to set up new plants across the country to enhance the production of Covaxin.
The permission for the same was given earlier this month.
https://twitter.com/mansukhmandviya/status/1424983313366720514?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwOn 10th August, Union Minister Mandaviya had tweeted that the Government of India had approved vaccine manufacturing facility for Bharat Biotech in Ankleshwar. “Following PM @NarendraModi ji’s vision of #SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine, this will increase vaccine availability & accelerate the world’s largest vaccine drive,” he had tweeted. Gujarat government got into mission mode to get the facility up and running.
Bharat Biotech had said that IIL’s Ankleshwar-based production facility would add another 200 million doses to its overall vaccine production.
Besides Ankaleshwar, the Bharat Biotech had decided to set up production facilities in Karnataka and Maharashtra, with the active support of the state governments. Reportedly, Bharat Biotech is expected to start Covaxin production in its Bengaluru plant in the next few weeks. These facilities have been repurposed for Covaxin production, and the production is likely to start in a few weeks.
There is no clarity yet on the status of Covaxin facilities that are set up in Maharashtra. Bharat Biotech, along with respective state governments in Gujarat and Karnataka, had worked on a mission mode in these two states to facilitate the production of Covaxin in a war-footing. However, the Maharashtra government is yet to streamline its process, thus leading to a delay in production.
India vaccinates 1 crore people on a single day
India achieved a momentous milestone in its Covid-19 vaccination drive on Friday by administering over 1 crore doses in a single day, its highest single-day count so far. Over 73 lakh doses were administered on Saturday, taking the total tally to 63 crores.
According to the latest data provided in the CoWIN portal, the total doses administered on Friday was 1,03,00,992. On Saturday, 73,61,506 vaccines were administered, taking the tally to 63,00,45,516, the second-highest in the world after China. The inoculation of more than one crore doses of vaccines in a day is a very significant achievement, which is more than the population of over 100 countries in the world.