Covaxin Centre, Bharat Biotech invite vaccine makers to manufacture Covaxin to scale up production
New Delhi/IBNS: The central government and Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech are willing to invite other companies which want to produce Covaxin to help meet the shortage in production, a top government advisor said on Thursday.
"People say that Covaxin should be given to other companies for manufacturing. I am happy to say that Covaxin manufacturing company (Bharat Biotech) has welcomed this when we discussed it with them," NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul said.
"Under this vaccine, a live virus is inactivated and this is done only in BSL3 (Biosafety Level 3) labs. Not every company has this. We give an open invitation to companies who want to do this. Companies that want to manufacture Covaxin, should do it together. The centre will assist so that capacity is increased," Dr Paul said.
The statement comes on a day when the government announced that it hoped to have more than 200 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines between August to December this year amid severe criticism of its mishandling of the vaccine plan.
India recorded more than 4,000 Covid-19 deaths for a second straight day on Thursday as infections stayed below 4 lakh.
Meanwhile, a government panel on Thursday recommended an increase in the gap between the first and second doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, to 12-16 weeks.
This is the second time in three months the gap between the doses of Covishield has been increased.
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