India coronavirus: Can its vaccine producers meet demand?

The head of the Serum Institute of India (SII), one of the world’s largest manufacturers of coronavirus vaccines, has said its production capacity is “very stressed”.

The SII had been supplying vaccines around the world, including to the Covax scheme for middle and low income countries. But India has put a temporarily halt on these exports.

Can India meet its domestic needs?
India has a major challenge inoculating its own population.

“We are prioritising the needs of India”, said Adar Poonawalla, the head of SII said in an interview on Indian television, but added “we are still short of being able to supply to every Indian.”

As of 7 April, around 85 million doses had been administered nationally, and the programme was recently extended to include all those aged 45 and above.

The government says vaccination will not yet be extended to wider groups because of a “limited supply” until July.

The western state of Maharashtra has been reporting the highest number of cases in the country and it’s health minister has raised concerns about current vaccine stocks running very low.

Similar shortages have been reported elsewhere.

So far, the SII has an agreement to supply 166 million doses to the Indian government, with another firm, Bharat Biotech, supplying 10 million doses.

India also has licensing deals with the Russian Gamaleya Research Institute to produce 200 million doses of the Sputnik vaccine.

These will be produced by Indian manufacturers, for both the Indian market and for export.

Why is capacity ‘stressed’?
Two vaccine producers in India have raised concerns about their ability to meet their production targets.

The largest of these, SII – which produces Novavax and AstraZeneca vaccines – has warned of raw material shortages affecting production.

Its chief executive, Mr Poonawalla, attributed this to US export bans on specific items needed to make vaccines, such as specialised bags and filters.

The firm said it has also faced difficulties importing cell culture media, single-use tubing and specialised chemicals from the US.

“The sharing of these… raw materials is going to become a critical limiting factor — nobody has been able to address this so far,” said Mr Poonawalla.

The SII had written to the Indian government in March asking it to intervene to ensure the uninterrupted manufacture and supply of vaccines globally.

Another Indian manufacturer, Biological E, which is producing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, has also raised concerns about possible shortages affecting vaccine production.

Mahima Datla, the company’s chief executive, recently said US suppliers were “reluctant to commit that they will stick to their delivery timelines”.

Agencies