Serum Institute of India stopped making Covishield vaccine due to low demand: CEO Adar Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India (SII) stopped Covishield vaccine production in December 2021 as around 100 million doses expired due to low demand, CEO Adar Poonawalla said.

He added that people are “fed up” of Covid and vaccines.

Poonawalla also said that SII had to defer HPV vaccine production by two years due to the focus on COVID-19, and will start supplying small quantities of the dose to the central government in early 2023.

In late September, Poonawalla announced that SII will try to launch an Omicron-specific vaccine for COVID-19 after six months. The Pune-based vaccine maker is working with US biotechnology major Novavax to bring the Omicron-specific vaccine. He also said that SII will be rolling out an indigenously developed Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV), Cervavac.

Cervavac can prevent cervical cancer, a leading cause of female cancer mortality worldwide. It will be available at a far cheaper and more affordable price than the jabs being imported into the country, Poonawalla had said on September 1.