Covishield output to be increased to 120 million, Covaxin to 58 million: Govt

The government on Tuesday said that the monthly production capacity of Covishield is projected to be increased to more than 120 million doses and of Covaxin to around 58 million doses by December.

The information was provided by Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya while responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha on the current capacity to manufacture the two vaccines in the country.

"As communicated by the manufacturers, the monthly vaccine production capacity of Covishield is projected to be increased from 110 million doses per month to more than 120 million doses per month and the production capacity of Covaxin is projected to be increased from 25 million doses per month to around 58 million doses per month," the minister said in a written reply while talking about the August-December period.

The minister further said that India has administered 470 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine so far and the Centre is making efforts to inoculate the entire country at the earliest.

The government expects that by October-November, four more Indian pharmaceutical companies will start production of indigenous vaccines that will help meet the domestic demand, he said.

Biologicals E and Novartis vaccines will also be available in the market in the coming days, while Zydus Cadila will soon get an emergency-use nod from an expert committee, the Union health minister said.

Currently, Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India (SII) are providing vaccines to the government. Sputnik vaccine is also available and production of which has begun, he added.

The Centre is buying 75 per cent of the vaccine produced to give free jabs to people, while 25 per cent is allocated for the private sector, the minister said.