In an email response to a series of questions, Poonawalla added that the company hopes to launch its children’s vaccine, Covovax, by February-March 2022. Its response comes as India reaches 1 billion vaccinations. against Covid-19.

On raw material shortages and facing roadblocks in production, he said SII’s production capacity for Covishield had quadrupled. “By the end of October, we will start producing 240 million doses of the vaccine, compared to the current 220 million doses. The shortages of raw materials have been resolved, ”he said.

Speaking on the export of Covishield to the WHO-supported COVAX platform, he said: “We are still awaiting the appropriate instructions from the Indian government. That said, based on our production capacity and demand from India, we should be able to export 20-30 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine per month to Covax, and then many more from next January. “

“By February-March 2022, we hope to launch Covovax for children. Right now we are undergoing testing for children. At the moment, we are stocking smaller quantities, ”said the head of the SII.

There are ten sites enrolled in the Covovax pediatric vaccine trial. In some sites, doses have been given to children of different age groups from 12 to 17 years old and 7 to 11 years old. Children in the 2-6 age group are not yet included. According to the Clinical Trials Registry-India, the study aims to verify the safety and immune response of Covovax in the age group 2 to 17 years old. A total of 920 participants will be involved at 10 sites.

Admitting that there were a lot of challenges so far, Poonwalla said resisting and meeting the demand has been a Herculean task. However, milestones like these and a little silver lining to contain the spread make every challenge we face worth it.

“We are delighted to have participated in India’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. That said, a large part of the credit goes to the GOI [Government of India], frontline workers and all health professionals who have worked tirelessly to strengthen the fight, ”he added.

On the vaccine mix, the head of SII said he had partnered with Biocon Biologics to leverage the latter’s expertise in areas such as mBS and m-RNA technologies. “We look forward to complementing everyone’s capacities and capabilities in vaccines and biologics, with the aim of addressing inequitable access to emerging and developed markets for life-saving vaccines and biologics,” said Poonawalla .