Vaccine makers asked to ramp up production | Economic Times

India has asked vaccine manufacturers to ramp up production, as the government announced the expansion of the Covid-19 vaccination drive across the nation.Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has planned to repurpose existing capacity to ramp up Covid-19 vaccine production and has asked the government for grant of funds for the conversion, people in the know told ET.“The company proposes to ramp up capacities as the demand for Covid-19 vaccines goes up with the government expanding the vaccination drive to cover people above 45 years of age. SII will divert the existing production lines to produce Covid-19 vaccine,” same people said.SII CEO Adar Poonawalla in a meeting held on Friday with an inter-ministerial group formed by the government, is also learnt to have discussed the challenges Serum is facing regarding import of raw material from the US. 81661887The group has been formed to look at ways to augment Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing capacities in the country. Tasked to engage in regular dialogue with vaccine manufacturers to facilitate rapid upscaling of domestic manufacturing capacities, the inter-ministerial group comprising officials from the health ministry, department of pharmaceuticals, Drugs Controller General of India, department of biotechnology and the Indian Council of Medical Research visited SII on Friday and is expected to visit Bharat Biotech on Wednesday.“SII has asked government officials to intervene so that the import issues are sorted out. The government will take it up with the concerned authorities soon,” added the official.Poonawalla had earlier also told a World Bank panel that a US law blocking the export of certain key items, including bags, filters, stoppers, glass and plastic will likely cause serious bottlenecks.An email sent to SII did not elicit any response till the press time. “The vaccine manufacturers have been asked to ramp up vaccine production. By the second half of the year, the annual capacity should increase to 2-2.5 billion doses per year,” added the official.