10 Crore Covishield Doses To Be Manufactured In June: SII Says To Centre

As many complaints are rolling in the country about the shortage of Covid jabs, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has told the government that it will be able to provide nine to 10 crore doses of Covishield in June. 

The SII told the Union Home Minister Amit Shah that employees have been working harder to produce vaccines despite various challenges during the pandemic. 

The Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at SII, Prakash Kumar Singh told, " We will be able to manufacture nine to 10 crore doses of our Covishield vaccine for the country as compared to our production capacity of 6.5 crore doses in May".

"Serum Institute has been concerned about the safety of the people of our country from Covid-19. Under the leadership of our CEO, Adar C Poonawalla, our team have been working relentlessly shoulder to shoulder with our government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic," Singh further said in the letter. 

Serum Institute of India had told the Centre during early May that Covishield production would be ramped up to Rs 6.5 crore in June, 7 crores in July and 10 crores each in August and September. 

India is currently administering three types of vaccines- Covishield manufactured by SII and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech in its Covid-19 vaccination programme. The other vaccine is Russia's Sputnik-V which got approved by the DGCI for emergency use and only a few private hospitals are using this vaccine.