Delhi chief minister urges Indian gov’t to share vaccine formula to ramp up production

NEW DELHI, May 12 — Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday urged the federal government to share the COVID-19 vaccine formula with other vaccine makers in the country in a bid to ramp up its production.
India has been hit hard by a devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections and acute shortage of COVID-19 vaccines is being reported from across the country.
“Only two companies are producing vaccines. They produce only 60 to 70 million doses a month. This way, it will take over two years to vaccinate everyone,” Kejriwal said. “Many waves will have come by then, so it is important to increase vaccine production and frame a national plan.”
In India, two companies, Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, are currently producing the vaccines against COVID-19. Though a third vaccine Russia’s Sputnik V has also been cleared but not yet rolled out in the country.
Kejriwal said there was a dire need to ramp up vaccine manufacturing in the country for conducting mass vaccination against COVID-19 and several companies should be roped in to accelerate vaccine production.
“Centre (the federal government) should collect the formula from these two (companies) and give it to the others who are able to produce vaccines safely,” he said, adding that a national plan to carry out vaccination should be devised.
India’s federal health ministry on Tuesday morning said 329,942 new COVID-19 cases and 3,876 related deaths were registered in the past 24 hours across the country. (Xinhua)