PUNE: Owner and CEO Adar of Serum Institute of India Poonawalla on Thursday said the company stopped making the Covishield vaccine last December and that about 100 million doses it had in stock at the time had been dumped at the end of its shelf life.
“As of December 2021, we have stopped making Covishield. The booster vaccines are not in demand because people are now fed up of it. Covid. Honestly, I’m fed up too. We all do,” he said while speaking to the press on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN). head in Pune on Thursday.
Covovax, new game SII developed, will be part of a mixed boost regimen. Poonawalla said, “Now, Covovax will be allowed for two weeks. In the future, when people get their annual flu shot, they can take it along with the Covid vaccine. But in India, there is no culture of getting an annual flu shot, like we did in the West. ”
About SII’s efforts to develop a vaccine against Omicron Poonawalla said, “We are working with Novavax of the United States to produce a booster specific for Omicron. This will be a dual-value vaccine. Our vaccine, Covovax, has undergone trials on effective as a booster shot, likely to be approved in the next 10-15 days.” SII is also developing a single-shot Covid vaccine with the US company Codagenix.
At the press conference, WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan said the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants calls for 100% of health workers and vulnerable age groups to be protected. vaccination.
“Newly discovered recombinant XBB has higher immune evasion among the 300 Omicron sub-variants. It is likely that we will see a wave caused by these sub-variants. For now, no there is data from any country showing that the emerging subvariant -variant is causing more severity and leading to hospitalization.So we should continue with strategic genome sequencing, “Dr Swaminathan said.
“As of December 2021, we have stopped making Covishield. The booster vaccines are not in demand because people are now fed up of it. Covid. Honestly, I’m fed up too. We all do,” he said while speaking to the press on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN). head in Pune on Thursday.
Covovax, new game SII developed, will be part of a mixed boost regimen. Poonawalla said, “Now, Covovax will be allowed for two weeks. In the future, when people get their annual flu shot, they can take it along with the Covid vaccine. But in India, there is no culture of getting an annual flu shot, like we did in the West. ”
About SII’s efforts to develop a vaccine against Omicron Poonawalla said, “We are working with Novavax of the United States to produce a booster specific for Omicron. This will be a dual-value vaccine. Our vaccine, Covovax, has undergone trials on effective as a booster shot, likely to be approved in the next 10-15 days.” SII is also developing a single-shot Covid vaccine with the US company Codagenix.
At the press conference, WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan said the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants calls for 100% of health workers and vulnerable age groups to be protected. vaccination.
“Newly discovered recombinant XBB has higher immune evasion among the 300 Omicron sub-variants. It is likely that we will see a wave caused by these sub-variants. For now, no there is data from any country showing that the emerging subvariant -variant is causing more severity and leading to hospitalization.So we should continue with strategic genome sequencing, “Dr Swaminathan said.
