India may get fourth Covid-19 vaccine by August, says govt official

“Phase 1, phase 2 trials of Indian vaccine of Biological E have finished and they’ll soon go into phase 3. This is a very significant development as they have a capacity of 7 crore/ 70 million vaccines per month,” NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul said today.

Biological E Ltd will manufacture 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines including the one developed by Johnson & Johnson under the Quad Vaccine Partnership, a White House press note had earlier said.

“The United States, through the DFC (Development Finance Corporation), will work with Biological E Ltd, to finance increased capacity to support Biological E’s effort to produce at least 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2022 with Stringent Regulatory Authorization (SRA) and/or World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL), including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” the statement said.

Along with the Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, the firm has been one of the most active vaccine developers from India during the pandemic, developing a protein subunit vaccine developed by US-based Baylor College of Medicine and mass manufacturing another by Johnson & Johnson.

Biological E Ltd is the largest manufacturer of tetanus vaccines and snake venom antidotes in India.

More Covid vaccines on the way

• Gujarat-based Zydus Cadila; the second indigenous vaccine is expected by August.
• American company Novavax, with which the Serum Institute of India has tied up; the SII’s second vaccine may be rolled out in India by September.
• Bharat Biotech, the company’s second vaccine which is an intranasal shot; is likely to be available by October.

At present, India has given Emergency Use Authorisation to three vaccine candidates – indigenously manufactured vaccines (Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech), and a third vaccine (Sputnik) that while presently manufactured abroad will eventually be manufactured in India.