Its chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said on Friday that Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, has stopped making new batches of shots after its stockpile increased to 200 million doses amid a global supply glut.
Now there is a glut of coronavirus vaccines globally.
Warning against a return to business as usual, Poonawalla said that we “cannot afford to put a price tag on the life of a citizen” as the pandemic is not yet behind us.
Poonawalla said his company had stopped production from December 31, 2021, just to avoid waste.
He pointed out that vaccine fatigue among the public is on the rise, mainly due to low offtake of vaccines, even after massive price reductions by the firm. from 600 225 a dose.
“We have got 200 million doses of stock. We had to stop production in December,” SII’s CEO said at a conference today, worried about ruin if the shots ran out. “I offered to make a free donation to anyone who wanted to take it. offered.”
Serum’s plight underscores the over-supply of the vaccine that was once the world desperate to vaccinate against the coronavirus.
Vaccine makers have invested massively in production capacity over the past year and some of that has only come online when most countries have covered most of their populations with two doses.
Global adjustments to living with the virus – with the exception of Covid zero-practicing China and Hong Kong – have also diluted the urgency for booster shots.
Turns out, especially in India, which just a year ago imposed export restrictions on serums and other local producers to ensure adequate supplies for the local population.
India, the world’s third most COVID-infected nation, has so far given over 1.87 billion shots as part of a double dose regimen for people aged 12 years and above.
The country now allows everyone above the age of 18 to get a booster shot, and Poonawalla urged a wider expansion. He said the government is also expected to reduce the recommended time interval for a booster shot from nine months to six months after the second dose.
Poonawalla said Serum, which is a major supplier to the WHO-backed COVAX programme, which helps ensure the supply of vaccines to developing countries, is a key to free flow and coordination of essential resources such as raw materials for vaccine production. Drafting the Global Epidemic Treaty”. in the next crisis.
Serum has cited protectionist measures in other countries that have led to raw material shortages as it fell short of vaccine production targets at the height of the pandemic. The company manufactures the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca plc and Oxford University, as well as the shot from Novovax Inc.
Like most other countries, life in India has largely moved beyond the Covid era, although cases are on the rise again, pushing the capital New Delhi this week to restore a masked mandate in public places.