Amid the steep rise in Covid-19 cases, the Indian government on Friday said it is taking steps to increase and accelerate the production of indigenous vaccines. Bharat Biotech's production capacity of Covaxin will be increased to 10 crore/100 million doses per month.

Under the effort, the Department of Biotechnology is providing financial support as a grant to the companies manufacturing the Covid-19 vaccine to boost their production.

"The current production capacity of indigenously developed Covaxin vaccine will be doubled by May-June 2021 and then increased nearly 6-7 fold by July-August 2021 i.e increasing the production from 1 crore vaccine doses in April 2021 to 6-7 crore vaccine dose/month in July- August. It is expected to reach nearly 10 crore doses per month by Sep 2021," according to a release issued by Union Ministry of Science & Technology.

As a part of this augmentation plan, the capacities of Bharat Biotech Limited, Hyderabad as well as other public sector manufacturers are being upgraded with the required infrastructure and technology.

Financial support is being provided as a grant by the Centre to the tune of nearly Rs 65 Cr to Bharat Biotech’s new Bangalore facility which is being repurposed to increase the capacity of vaccine production, India Blooms said. 

Three public sector companies are also being supported to increase the capacity of vaccine production.

Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd, Mumbai, a Mumbai-based public sector enterprise of the Maharashtra government has been already allowed to produce Covaxin.

"Financial support as a grant from GoI to the tune of appx Rs 65 Cr will be provided for this facility to be made ready for manufacturing. The Haffkine Biopharmaceuticals Ltd had asked for around 12 months to complete this task. However, the Central government has asked them to expedite and complete the task urgently within 6 months. The facility will have a capacity of 20 million doses per month, once functional," said the release.

Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), Hyderabad, a facility under National Dairy Development Board and Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Limited (BIBCOL), Bulandshahr, a CPSE under the Department of Biotechnology,  will also be supported to prepare their facility to provide 10-15 million doses per month by August to September.

(SAM)