SII resumes exports to COVAX, produces 1.25 bn Covishield doses this year

Serum Institute of India (SII) on Friday said it has resumed exports to the international vaccine sharing programme COVAX. The Pune-based firm has also produced a total of over 1.25 billion doses of Covishield, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine this year.

The first batches of Covishield left the SII manufacturing facility in Pune earlier today, for distribution to low- and middle-income countries via the COVAX mechanism, the company said.

SII’s supply of doses via COVAX is expected to increase substantially into the first quarter of 2022.

"The resumption of exports is linked to SII surpassing its original target to produce 1bn doses of Covishield by the end of this year. SII has reached this milestone ahead of time via rapid expansion of production capacity at its site in Pune," the vaccine maker said.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India said:“I want to thank our workforce for their superhuman efforts in achieving this major milestone, with one billion doses of Covishield now produced by SII. We started to invest at-risk in Covid-19 vaccine production back in March 2020 and Serum Institute colleagues have worked tirelessly ever since to get these life-saving doses to people."

He added: "It's a huge moment to begin exports again, for us, our partners at COVAX and the low- and middle-income countries we support. The world has largely depended on the low-cost, high-quality pharmaceuticals and vaccines that India has traditionally exported, so we are delighted to support the global vaccination effort once more."

Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance which leads the COVAX Facility said: “The resumption of supplies from Serum Institute of India is an important development for COVAX as it enters its busiest period yet for shipping vaccines to participating economies. While COVAX’s portfolio is now much more diversified than it was earlier this year when we received our first SII deliveries, Covishield remains an important product which has the potential to help us protect hundreds of millions of people in the months ahead."

Unicef welcomed the announcement that India is about to resume Covid-19 vaccine export to COVAX

Throughout the pandemic, SII has also been able to maintain its supply of non-Covid-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, including vaccines for polio, measles and pneumococcal disease, the company said.