India to procure over 30 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses per month by January: Sources

India will have a capacity of more than 30 crores by next year per month, which includes Covishield, Covaxin, ZyCoV-D and Biological E, said sources.

New Delhi: The government sources on Saturday (October 16, 2021) said that the country will have a COVID-19 vaccine capacity of 28 crore doses this month, which includes 22 crore Serum Institute of India`s (SII) Covishield, 6 crore doses of Bharat Biotech`s Covaxin and production of 60 lakh Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D doses.

According to a report in ANI, India will have a capacity of more than 30 crores by next year per month, which includes Covishield, Covaxin, ZyCoV-D and Biological E vaccines. 

The sources also revealed that the production of 60 lakh doses of Zydus Cadila`s ZyCoV-D, the third Indian company to make COVID-19 vaccines, is already ready with the company and Biological E will be submitting the data till November end of phase -3 trials. 

In addition to Biological E, which will be providing 30 crore doses, another company that is expected to provide vaccine doses is Gennova. Gennova will be the fourth Indian company doing trials of mRNA vaccines. The country is expected to get Gennova`s mRNA vaccine doses by February.

Earlier, NITI Aayog Member (Health) VK Paul had stated that the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company, Biological E, is expected to launch its vaccine against coronavirus in October this year.

Paul had also revealed that Phase 3 of Biological E`s trial is underway. "Stockpile is being produced. We should wait for the results. We hope it`ll be in the next month or two. They`ve made a broad commitment that they`ll supply a significant amount by year-end."

It may be noted that India procured more than 26 crore doses in the month of September as well and the Centre plans to achieve 100 crore doses in the upcoming week.

Earlier, it was expected to reach the target between October 10 to October 12. The delay and decline in Covid vaccination are due to the festival season and hesitation in the second dose.

India may accelerate the export of COVID-19 vaccines under its humanitarian initiative `Vaccine Maitri` by December after having an excess number of doses in the country. 

(With ANI inputs)