Indian vaccine manufacturer " Indian Serum Institute of India " (SII) announced that it will destroy 100 million doses of expired new crown vaccine . SII has obtained the authorization of AstraZeneca to produce the local version of the AZ vaccine "Covishield" in India. More than 90% of the doses in India have been given Covishield, but in fact, this vaccine stopped production as early as December last year.
According to BBC, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said on the 20th that due to low demand, the company stopped producing the Indian version of AZ vaccine "Covishield" as early as December 2021, retaining about 100 million doses in stock, but the shelf life of these vaccines is only 9 months and has expired in September this year. "Because people seem to be tired of the new coronavirus pneumonia now, there is no need for enhanced vaccines. To be honest, I also feel fed up, and everyone is like this."
If the dose is produced, SII is currently the world's largest vaccine manufacturer. During the COVID-19 epidemic, the Covishield vaccine it produced accounts for more than 90% of the vaccination doses in India. According to data from the Indian Ministry of Health, India has received more than 2 billion doses of vaccine so far, and more than 70% of the people have received at least 2 doses, but the amount of vaccination for enhanced doses has reached only 298 million doses.
Punavara said that the prospect of the new crown vaccine may be that people can be given at the same time when they receive influenza vaccines every year in the future. "But in India, there is no culture like Western countries injecting influenza vaccine every year." However, he also revealed that SII has now completed the trial of the Novavax vaccine "Covovax" in the United States as a booster, and is expected to be approved within 2 weeks. In addition, SII has also cooperated with Novavax to develop a next-generation vaccine against the Omicron variant virus.
