India is expected to get first doses of the single-shot vaccine of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in November or December this year, a top government source said, after the Centre had last week granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to the foreign Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer.
The next coronavirus vaccine that the government is expecting to arrive after Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik is Zydus Cadila’s DNA vaccine which may get the approval from the drug regulator soon. “We expect two crore doses monthly from Zydus Cadila,” the source said.
The vaccine from Biological E is also expected with an initial lot of seven crore doses in one go as the firm is doing at-risk production after the Centre extended it a Rs 1,500 crore advance. “The firm will soon apply for comparative studies and their data is good,” the source further said. Gennova’s vaccine is also expected in October.
The government source said that the priority right now was expanding the capacity of Bharat Biotech with its three plants becoming functional now. “In August, we will be getting three crore doses of Covaxin, which will go up to four crore in September and 6-7 crore from October,” the government source said, adding that Hyderabad-based firm Bharat Biotech had suffered as first batch of the manufacturer had failed.
Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) will supply nearly 15 crore doses of Covishield every month and is keen to start export of the vaccine. The government has told the SII that vaccinating Indians is a priority for now.
Meanwhile, the government is banking on only one crore doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in all as the local manufacturers are facing a trouble in producing the second dose of the vaccine, whose component is different from the first.
Regarding the approval of Covaxin by the World Health Organisation, the government source said a last dossier will go to the WHO in a couple of days and the WHO could soon call an expert committee meeting to give clearance.
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