Serum to ramp up Covishield supply in India to 90 million doses in June

The Serum Institute of India (SII) has said it will be able to manufacture and supply 90 to 100 million doses of the Covishield Covid-19 vaccine next month, a senior company official was quoted as saying in a letter to the Indian government.

"We are pleased to inform that in the month of June we will be able to manufacture and supply nine to 10 crore doses of our Covishield [Oxford AstraZeneca] vaccine to the country as compared to our production capacity of 6.5 crore doses in May," Prakash Kumar Singh, director of government and regulatory affairs at SII said in the letter to the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, according to PTI.

Singh's letter comes at a time when India faces a shortage of the jabs and said they have been forced to shut down over the last few days due to a countrywide shortage.

Serum had informed the Indian government earlier in May that the production of Covishield would be ramped up to 65 million doses in June, 70 million in July and 100 million each in August and September.

India is using Covishield and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech in its vaccination programme.