Bharat Biotech ramps up production of Covaxin with new Gujarat plant
The new facility at Ankleshwar has a manufacturing capacity of more than 1 crore doses per month.
India’s nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive is set to get a boost in the coming month with key vaccine maker Bharat Biotech ramping up production. Bharat Biotech is going to augment the production of India’s indigenously developed vaccine Covaxin at its new plant in Gujarat’s Ankleshwar. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on August 29 released the first commercial batch of Covaxin produced in the new facility.
Mandaviya while releasing the first batch of Covaxin from Ankleshwar said that it is a landmark moment in the journey of India’s fight against Covid-19 and the ramped-up production of vaccines would give further impetus to the pace of vaccination in India.
According to the Union health minister, the Ankleshwar plant has the capacity to produce over 1 crore doses per month. The supplies will be available by next month from the plant which was constructed in 2020.
Bharat Biotech however didn’t reveal the number of Covaxin doses that have been released. The Hyderabad-based vaccine maker had earlier announced that it aimed to produce 20 crore additional doses of the vaccine at the wholly-owned unit. “The Covaxin production had begun in early June, before which the team had executed engineering batches to study the equipment functionality at the facility,” Mandaviya said.
Annualized production capacity of around 100 crore doses
Mandaviya also spoke about Bharat Biotech’s overall production. The manufacturer of the Indian Council of Medical Research developed vaccine has already deployed multiple production lines at its Hyderabad, Malur, Bengaluru and Pune campuses. The addition of the Chiron Behring manufacturing facility at Ankleshwar will further augment its production capacity, according to Mandaviya.
Dr Krishna Ella, CMD of Bharat Biotech said that their goal is “to develop a vaccine with global safety and efficacy standards have now been achieved” and they are now “marching towards the goal of annualized capacity of close to 100 crore doses.” Ella also said that the company is also looking at manufacturing partnerships with its partners in other countries to further bolster its production capacity.