High demand in India puts maximum pressure on vaccine production | The world

In India, the so-called pharmacy of the world, problems begin to meet the need for vaccines Corona virus Meets its large population and global obligations, while manufacturers seek ways to maximize their productivity.

The western Indian state of Maharashtra, the capital of Bombay, has been the epicenter of the epidemic for more than a year India, This Wednesday he warned that there was not enough to maintain the rhythm of his vaccination campaign.

Vaccine stocks in the state are limited to three days. We have asked the central government to send more vaccines (…) Bombay has only three days’ stockpile, ”Regional Health Minister Rajesh Top told NDTV, a local channel.

According to official data, Maharashtra needs 4 million doses per week to achieve the vaccine target of 500,000 doses daily.

In addition, unlike the initial inaction when the campaign was launched in January, it now appears that everyone should be vaccinated after the large turnout of cases, only today is the daily record of infection India Since the outbreak, 115,736, of which more than 50,000 have been associated with Maharashtra.

With the new enthusiasm for this vaccine covering everyone over the age of 45 from April 1, the vaccine campaign was accelerated, with only 3.3 million doses given on the last day, raising the total to 87 million in 81 days.

But now Maharashtra is facing not only the closure of several vaccination centers but also the dilemma of having to “deport people due to lack of dose”, the regional health minister said.

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Betnegar also warned today that “the vaccine stockpile in Mumbai is running out”.

“We give most of the drugs to government hospitals. We only have 100,000 doses,” he told the agency in a statement. India years.

Product “to the limit”

Nevertheless, New Delhi has enough units to continue the so-called “largest vaccination campaign in the world” and its first target is to vaccinate 300 million people in a quarter of its population in six months.

In this sense, Indian Health Minister Harshavardhan today criticized the complaints of shortage of supplies by some local administrations, saying it only spreads fear among the people.

“States have been notified that stocks will continue to be replenished,” he said, while not facing domestic supply or international obligations issues.

In this regard, during his speech at a virtual meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the region, Varden reiterated that “vaccines”. Govit-19 Are produced in India They are shared with more than 80 countries.

The India It uses two vaccines that are approved in the country and manufactured in its territory: Covshield, a British-Swedish laboratory from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford; And Kovacsin, from Bharat Biotech, an Indian laboratory.

Executive Director of the Serum Institute India (SII), Adar Poonavalla, one of Covshield’s leading producers, agreed to “openly state that existing production capacity is in range”.

IPS, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, produces 60 to 65 million doses of cocaine per month, has so far supplied about 100 million doses to the Indian government and exported 60 million, but “has not yet been able to deliver to all Indians,” Poonawalla told NDTV.

According to their estimates, if SII could expand its production capacity to 100 million doses per month, India It needs another manufacturer to meet its needs, he concluded.