Vaccinating 130Cr people with injectable Covaxin a challenge: Bharat Biotech

Even as India’s first indigenous coronavirus vaccine Covaxin is entering its third phase of human trials, Bharat Biotech on Monday raised the logistical query on “how to vaccinate 1.3 billion (130 crore) people with two injectable doses. Terming the exercise a “challenge” it also said that work was on single-dose nasal drop vaccine.

Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella said the company’s Bio-Safety Level 3 (BSL-3) facility currently has limited capacity but hoped to reach one billion (100 crore) doses by next year.

“We have partnered with ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) for Covaxin and as we speak, we are entering phase III trials but I am not happy because it is a two-dose injectable vaccine. If we have to vaccinate 1.3 billion population with two dose vaccine, we need 2.6 billion (260 crore) syringes and needles,” he said.

Ella was addressing Deccan Dialogue organised by the Indian School of Business (ISB) and supported by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on ‘Crisis and cooperation: Imperative in the times of pandemic’.

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