The globe’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India (SII), will stop manufacturing its COVID-19 vaccines under the AstraZeneca license because of the decrease in global demand.
The institute produced over a billion doses of Covishield, the vaccine of AstraZeneca produced under a different name in India. It was also one of the most significant contributors to Covax, the campaign providing the poorest nations with the COVID-19 vaccines.
Moreover, from the previous summer, the production exceeded demand as well as the company’s stockpile grew to 200 million unused doses, as per the Serum chief Adar Poonawalla.
He mentioned in the statement that an economic forum had been organized by the sources, expressing the concerns over potential waste, “We shut down production in December. I have even offered to give free donations to whoever wants to take it.”
According to India’s drug regulator, the Covishield vaccine can be used for up to nine months after its manufacture date.
Along with this, only the production of Covisheld has been stopped, and the company will continue to produce Covovax under license from the USA pharma giant Novavax. A serum spokesperson made the confirmation.
The world is seemingly moving from a shortage to a “glut” of COVID vaccines. Billions of individuals remain unvaccinated, most in developing countries.
While about two-thirds of the globe’s population has got at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as many European countries, such as Belgium, are even considering a fourth dose for specific population groups, only 12.5 percent of the individuals in low-income nations have got at least one dose. The data indicates that one-third of the world, including 83 percent of all Africans, remains totally unvaccinated.
