As states across India report shortage of vaccine, the Centre has unveiled its mega plan to vaccinate everyone by end of 2021. The grand roadmap to vaccinate each and every Indian includes producing about 216 crore vaccines by 2021. The government is already in talks with J&J Pfizer, while Sputnik is expected to hit the Indian market by next week. In total, there are about 8 players in fray to realise the goal of complete immunisation.
Looking at the current status of vaccines, about 11 crore doses of Covishield will be produced by July, and reach the goal of 75 crore doses by end of 2021. About 2 crore doses of Covaxin will be produced by July and reach the goal of 55 crore doses by end of the year. Bio E and Zydus Cadila are still under phase 3 trials and are expected to produce about 30 crore and 5 crore doses respectively by end of the year.
BB Nasal and Genova are in phase 1 and phase 2 trials and are expected to produce about 10 crore and 6 crore doses respectively. While Sputnik will be available from next week, the approval is sought for SII-Novavax.
In an attempt to immediately ramp up the vaccine supply, Zydus Cadila is likely to begin supply in June, Sputnik will be available from next week, Indian institute of science has begin developing vaccine, Bharat Biotech will share Covaxin code. 2 PSUs are already in talks to enter pact to increase Covaxin’s production. The Centre, on the other hand, has increased the gap between 2 Covishield doses to 12-16 weeks.
