Pune, Nov 26 (UNI) Serum Institute of India (SII) on Friday announced that it has resumed exports to the international vaccine sharing programme COVAX.

The first batches of its COVISHIELD COVID-19 vaccine left the SII manufacturing facility in Pune earlier today, for distribution to low- and middle-income countries via the COVAX mechanism, read an official statement.

It further said that the resumption of exports is linked to SII surpassing its original target to produce 1bn doses of COVISHIELD by the end of this year. SII has reached this milestone ahead of time via rapid expansion of production capacity at its site in Pune.

To bolster its COVID-19 vaccine output even further, SII will bring into production other vaccines under licence. These include COVOVAX, from US-based company Novavax, which received its first Emergency Use Authorisations (EUAs) from regulators in Indonesia and the Philippines this month.

Further regulatory reviews are pending for COVOVAX in India and with the World Health Organization, and Novavax has also submitted several additional regulatory filings for its vaccine around the world.

Giving his reaction, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said, “I want to thank our workforce for their superhuman efforts in achieving this major milestone, with 1billion doses of COVISHIELD now produced by SII. We started to invest at-risk in COVID-19 vaccine production back in March 2020 and Serum Institute colleagues have worked tirelessly ever since to get these life-saving doses to people. It's a huge moment to begin exports again, for us, our partners at COVAX and the low- and middle-income countries we support. The world has largely depended on the low-cost, high-quality pharmaceuticals and vaccines that India has traditionally exported, so we are delighted to support the global vaccination effort once more.”

“I also want to thank our global partners including AstraZeneca, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gavi, UNICEF and the WHO for their unwavering patience and confidence in our ability to keep on track. With these global collaborations and new COVID-19 vaccines such as COVOVAX entering our production lines, we can be more hopeful that WHO’s target to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population by the middle of next year can be met. Beyond this, we will continue to work hand in hand with our global partners on our promising programmes in HPV and malaria and we will continue to fight health inequality globally by making vaccines more accessible and affordable,” he said.

Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance which leads the COVAX Facility said, “The resumption of supplies from Serum Institute of India is an important development for COVAX as it enters its busiest period yet for shipping vaccines to participating economies. While COVAX’s portfolio is now much more diversified than it was earlier this year when we received our first SII deliveries, COVISHIELD remains an important product which has the potential to help us protect hundreds of millions of people in the months ahead."

UNI SP KAZ ASN