Explainer | Why is India facing a coronavirus vaccine crunch and can it ramp up production?

India’s major players making vaccines include the Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, Dr Reddy’s, Biological E and Cadila Healthcare

But a cash crunch, supply chain issues, second wave of infections and lockdowns have left the world’s largest vaccine producing nation struggling to meet demand

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Workers pack boxes containing vials of Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, at the Serum Institute of India in Pune. Photo: AP

Published: 10:15pm, 25 May 2021Updated: 11:15pm, 25 May 2021

India, the world’s largest vaccine producing nation, has fully vaccinated only about 43.3 million people, less than 4 per cent of its nearly 1.4 billion population.

In the past month, amid a wave of new infections, 100,000 Indians have died, bringing the country’s total death toll to 300,000, the third-highest in the world after the United States and Brazil, although experts say the actual number is probably much higher.

Up to March, India had sent 66 million doses of the locally produced Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine – known as Covishield – to other countries. The Hindu newspaper, quoting government figures, said 19.8 million doses were given to the Covax Facility vaccine sharing programme, 10.7 million doses were given to 48 countries as a grant, while the Serum Institute of India sold 35.7 million doses to other countries under commercial contracts.

Exports have now stopped and weekly vaccinations, using the two vaccines currently approved in India – Covishield and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech – have fallen from a peak of nearly 25 million in early April to about 9 million on the back of vaccine shortages. A third vaccine, the Russian-made Sputnik V, which Indian regulators approved this month, is to hit the market shortly.

“If India wants to cover all of its adult population in 12 months, it should produce at least 5.4 million doses per day. Currently, India produces only about 2.3 million to 2.4 million doses per day.

“Clearly, we need more than a doubling of production in India, or we need to import significantly,” said R Ramakumar, a professor at the school of developmental studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. He has been closely following the vaccine output for months.

The government has been fast-tracking regulatory processes and supporting the vaccine makers through advance payments. But production can’t keep up with demand.

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