Covishield,Covaxin monthly production capacity to increase to 120 and 58 million doses

As the country is ramping up its inoculation drive, the Centre on Tuesday said monthly production capacity of Covishield is projected to be increased to more than 120 million doses and of Covaxin to around 58 million doses by December, citing information from the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers.

For the National Covid vaccination programme, 44.42 crores doses of Covishield and 6.82 crores doses of Covaxin has been supplied by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech International Limited respectively, from 16th January 2021 to 5th August 2021, informed Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Rajya Sabha.

He was responding to a question on the current capacity to manufacture Covaxin and Covishield in the country, and the expected capacity going forward from August to December 2021.

Manufacturers announced plans to increase the production capacity of Covishield from 11 crore doses each month to more than 12 crore doses each month, while the production capacity of Covaxin will increase from 2.5 crore doses per month to around 5.8 crore doses each month.

In a tweet Mandaviya informed about his meeting with CEO AdarPoonawalla, and appreciated the role of SII in mitigating COVID 19 and also he assured continuous support from government in ramping up of vaccine production.