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The Centre and the state governments have been facing the criticism of vaccine shortage in the country after India was named as the top manufacturer of vaccinations across the globe. The Centre issued a clarification after facing the heat. The Centre asked the states to buy the vaccinations from the manufacturers directly and also the supplies from the Centre. India will be producing more than 200 crores of vaccination doses before the end of the year informed Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul. This would indeed boost up the vaccination drive. The coronavirus spread is huge from cities to the rural regions and the situations are alarming for now. It is heard that 200 crores doses will be available between August and December.

Serum Institute of India will produce 75 crores doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, Bharat Biotech will be producing 55 crores of Covaxin doses, India's Biological E will produce 30 crore doses, SII will also produce 20 crore doses of Novavax, 15.6 crores of Sputnik V apart from Bharat Biotech's nasal vaccine of 10 crores (single dose), 6 crore doses of Genova vaccine. There are a couple of other vaccines that are in the final stages of clinical trials and will be available this year. VK Paul also clarified that the country will have 300 crore doses of vaccinations during the first quarter of next year.

Any vaccination that is approved by World Health Organization, FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) can be imported to India and the license in the country will be granted in just two days. The talks are on about importing Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. With lot of crisis all over, the Centre announced to allow the manufacture of Covaxin by private manufacturers of the country. Covaxin was developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research along with Bharat Biotech. As the patent rights of Covishield are not with India, the Centre is keen to bring more doses of Covaxin.

By Siva Kumar