Serum Institute will deliver 10 crore more doses of Covid vaccine to India, other countries

Pune-based Serum Institute of India has already committed to supplying 10 crore doses of the vaccine at a price of about Rs 225 per dose.

Representational image for a vaccine | Pixabay

New Delhi: The Serum Institute of India (SII) has announced an expansion of its association with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and vaccine alliance GAVI to deliver an additional 10 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to India, as well as other low- and middle-income countries.

This takes the total commitment made by the SII to 20 crore doses, possibly in the first half of 2021. In August, the SII had announced a plan to supply 10 crore doses of the vaccine at a price of about Rs 225 per dose.

SII is partnering with AstraZeneca for manufacture and clinical trials of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, and also with Novavax, a US company, for the manufacture and commercialisation of the latter’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The partnership with GAVI and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is part of the GAVI COVAX AMC (advance market commitment).

The collaboration will provide upfront capital to the SII to help it increase manufacturing capacity so that once a vaccine or vaccines get regulatory approval and WHO Prequalification, doses can be distributed at scale to LMICs, the Pune-based SII said in a statement.

“The collaboration further bolsters up our fight against Covid-19! Through the avid support of Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we will now manufacture and deliver up to an additional 100 million doses of immunogenic and safe-proven future Covid-19 vaccines to India and low- and middle-income countries in 2021,” SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said in a statement.

“At this stage, it is important for governments, global health and financial institutions in the public and private sector to come together in ensuring that no one is left behind on the road to recovery. This association is in line with our efforts to see that the future vaccines reach the remotest parts of the world, providing full immunisation coverage in a bid to contain the spread of the pandemic,” Poonawalla said.

$3 vaccine

The funding will help SII accelerate the manufacture of candidate vaccines licenced from AstraZeneca and Novavax, which will be available for procurement if they are successful in attaining full licensure and WHO prequalification.

The vaccines will have a ceiling price of $3 per dose, a price enabled by investments made by partners such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and SII.

“This is vaccine manufacturing for the Global South, by the Global South, helping us to ensure no country is left behind when it comes to access to a Covid-19 vaccine,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

“The momentum behind our effort to ensure global, equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines is really building. Last week, we were able to announce the historic number of countries that are now signed up to the COVAX Facility; today we can announce further doses of safe, effective vaccines that will be reserved specifically for low- and middle-income countries,” Berkley continued.

“No country, rich or poor, should be left at the back of the queue when it comes to Covid-19 vaccines; this collaboration brings us another step closer to achieving this goal.”

Countries to be supported

The Gavi COVAX AMC, which is currently seeking at least $2 billion in initial seed funding, will meet at least part of the cost of procurement for the vaccine doses. The Gavi Board has agreed upon the final list of 92 countries that will be supported by the Gavi COVAX AMC.

Under the new collaboration, AstraZeneca’s candidate vaccine, if successful, will be available to 61 Gavi-eligible countries. Novavax’s candidate, if successful, will be available to all 92 countries supported by the Gavi COVAX AMC.

So far, 73 higher-income economies have formally committed to joining the facility, in addition to the 92 low- and middle-income economies that are eligible for support from the Gavi COVAX AMC.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, via its Strategic Investment Fund, will provide at-risk funding of a further $150 million to Gavi, bringing the total funding provided through this collaboration to $300 million.