COVID-19 update | Awaiting clarity from govt on booster doses, Covovax vaccine for kids: Adar Poonawalla

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla. | Illustration: MoneyControl

Serum Institute of India's CEO Adar Poonawalla on March 21 said his firm was awaiting clarity from the government on COVID-19 booster doses and Covovax vaccine for children, CNBC-TV18 reported.

Poonawalla said his firm would review Covovax production soon based on demand.

The company is getting ready to produce 100 million doses of Covovax from April 1, 2022, for Europe, India and Africa. He added that SII has manufactured and delivered 40 million doses of Covovax to Europe and Australia.

ALSO READ: DCGI's EUA nod to SII's Covovax for 12-17 years age group; Adar Poonawalla says younger age groups to follow shortly

SII had invested over Rs 10,000 crore in setting up vaccine capacity to tackle the pandemic. Poonawalla claimed that his company now has the capacity to produce 4 billion vaccines including non-COVID vaccines. He said till date SII has produced 1.9 billion doses of Covishield and 1.7 billion doses of it were delivered to more than 70 countries.

Though the firm stopped production of Covishield in December 2021, it could restart production, Poonawalla was quoted as saying in the report.

"We are on 'standby' to restart Covishield production if orders come in. We have an inventory of 200 million Covishield doses currently," Poonawalla stated.

Earlier on March 9, India’s drug regulator granted restricted emergency use authorisation to SII’s COVID-19 vaccine Covovax for the 12-17 years age group, subject to certain conditions.

Confirming the DCGI approval, Poonawalla tweeted: "@SerumInstIndia’s brand Covovax has completed bridging studies in India and has been granted Emergency Use Authorisation by DCGI for adults and for children above the age of 12. Younger age groups will follow shortly.”

It is the fourth vaccine to receive the regulator’s nod for use among those below 18 years.

However, only one vaccine –Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin– is used for the 15-18 years age group in the vaccination drive in the country after the government approval.