Bharat Biotech to Supply 700 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses in 2021

India’s Bharat Biotech plans to produce 700 million doses of its newly approved vaccine this year, the company’s managing director Krishna Ella said Monday.

The emergency use approval of Bharat’s Covaxin over the weekend by India’s drug regulators along with approval of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine — called Covishield in India — raised concern among critics who noted that a phase 3 trial of Covaxin only began in mid-November so full efficacy data aren’t yet available (DID, Jan. 4).

The Serum Institute, which is manufacturing the Astra Zeneca vaccine for India, can produce 300 million doses by July, according to its CEO Adar Poonwalla. The AstraZeneca approval also drew criticism because of the lack of transparency over the institute’s phase 3 India trial. One consumer advocacy group, the All India Drug Action Network, urged Indian regulators to release the Serum Institute’s trial protocol for the vaccine in India and called for more safety data.

In a potential delay for the supply of vaccines to poorer countries, the institute reportedly may not distribute the vaccine abroad until India’s most vulnerable populations have been inoculated. Given that the institute is one of the world’s largest vaccine suppliers, especially for poorer nations, this means lower-income countries will likely have to wait months for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Poonwalla said Covishield will cost less than $3 in India for the first 100 million doses, but that the price would then increase, and that the AstraZeneca vaccine will be sold elsewhere for nearly $14 per dose. AstraZeneca previously said that it will sell doses to low- and middle-income countries at less than $3 (DID, Dec. 30, 2020).

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech is in negotiations to provide Covaxin vaccine doses to the Indian government but hasn’t yet disclosed pricing details. ― Jason Scott