As the race to discovering an effective and safe vaccine against the new novel coronavirus continues, the Indian government is assessing the country’s capacity for mass-production. This step is taken in order to ensure that the production suffices for the entire population which is over a billion people.
Although India has the largest facilities to mass produce vaccine, preparing one from scratch requires several months of effort. It also demands investments in millions. Hence, the central government is trying to understand the possible challenges, so as to navigate through the same.
“Even if the processes are the same, contract manufacturing would require a separate phase 3 trial like the one Serum Institute is currently doing for University of Oxford’s vaccine candidate ‘Covishield’," said a senior government official on condition of anonymity to Live Mint. “The phase 3 trial will be necessary as changes in machinery, temperature, people, etc., can change the vaccine efficacy," the source added.
“Vaccine firms have been asked whether they can potentially contract manufacture vaccines developed by someone else," said a senior executive at a vaccine maker.
“At the meetings, companies are asked if they can contract manufacture another company’s vaccine or if they have spare bottling capacity for fill-and-finish of other bulk vaccines. India might require at least 500 million doses to begin with, and finding enough vials will also be a big constraint," said a second executive.
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