The government informed the Rajya Sabha today that the monthly production capacity of Covishield is expected to be boosted to more than 120 million doses and that of Covaxin to roughly 58 million doses by December, citing information from the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers.
Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Health Minister, was responding to a query on the country’s present capacity for manufacturing Covaxin and Covishield, as well as the planned capacity from August to December 2021.
“As communicated by the manufacturers, the monthly vaccine production capacity of Covishield is projected to be increased from 110 million doses per month to more than 120 million doses per month and the production capacity of Covaxin is projected to be increased from 25 million doses per month to around 58 million doses per month,” the minister said in a written reply.
Further, the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched ‘Mission Covid Suraksha – the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission’.
The Mission is being implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector undertaking (PSU) of the Department of Biotechnology, the reply stated.