The Serum Institute of India (SII) will produce an additional 10 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine for India and, low and middle-income countries in 2021. The SII has announced an expansion of Covid-19 vaccine production strategy.
The announcement came as part of the collaboration between eh SII, Gavi, Vaccine Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This brings the total now to be delivered by the partnership to up to 20 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
"The expansion follows August's announcement of up to 100 million doses to be delivered by the collaboration, bringing the total now to be delivered by the partnership to up to 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines," the Serum Institute of India (SII) said.
It will accelerate the manufacturing and delivery of up to an additional 10 crore doses of future safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines, priced at a maximum of US$ 3 per dose for low- and middle-income countries in 2021.
The SII is the leading vaccine manufacturer in the world and has partnered with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for producing the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the scientists of the Oxford University.
The announcement by the SII came days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the AstraZeneca reached an agreement with the SII to supply 1 billion doses of Oxford University's Covid-19 vaccine to low and middle-income countries. Johnson announced this during his speech at the 75th high-level debate of the United National General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday.
The Oxford vaccine, being produced under brand name of Covishield is now in Phase-III of clinical trials in a multi-national vaccine development programme. The SII is conducting the trials in India.
The latest arrangement brings the total number of vaccine doses to be covered by the partnership between SII, Gavi, and the Gates Foundation to an aggregate of up to 20 crore doses, following the initial agreement for up to 10 crore doses announced in August. It again provides an option to secure additional doses if the vaccines pillar of the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator sees a need for it.
The collaboration will provide upfront capital to the SII to help it increase manufacturing capacity now so that, once a vaccine or vaccines gains regulatory approval and WHO prequalification, doses can be distributed at scale to LMICs as part of the Gavi COVAX AMC mechanism as early as the first half of 2021.
"Through the avid support of Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we will now manufacture and deliver up to an additional 100 million doses of immunogenic and safe-proven future Covid-19 vaccines to India and low- and middle-income countries in 2021," said Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India
"At this stage, it is important for governments, global health and financial institutions in the public and private sector to come together in ensuring that no one is left behind in the road to recovery. This association is In line with our efforts to see that the future vaccines reach the remotest part of the world providing full immunization coverage in a bid to contain the spread of the pandemic," said Poonawalla.
The funding will help accelerate the manufacturing by the SII for candidate vaccines licensed from AstraZeneca and Novavax, which will be available for procurement if they are successful in attaining full licensure and WHO Prequalification.
The vaccines will have a ceiling price of US$3 per dose, a price enabled by investments made by partners such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and SII.
"This is vaccine manufacturing for the Global South, by the Global South, helping us to ensure no country is left behind when it comes to access to a Covid-19 vaccine," said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
"The momentum behind our effort to ensure global, equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines is really building. Last week we were able to announce the historic number of countries that are now signed up to the COVAX Facility, today we can announce further doses of safe, effective vaccines that will be reserved specifically for low- and middle-income countries. No country, rich or poor, should be left at the back of the queue when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines; this collaboration brings us another step closer to achieving this goal," Dr Seth Berkley said.
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