New Delhi: Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawala on Friday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and said that he is hopeful of launching Covovax, another COVID-19 vaccine being manufactured by his company in India, in October for adults and for children by the first quarter of 2022.
While speaking to reporters after the meeting Poonawala said that the Central Government is already helping his firm and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his cooperation.
"The government is helping us and we are facing no financial crunch. We are thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all the cooperation and support," Poonawala told news agency PTI after his meeting.
When asked about Covid vaccines for kids, Poonawalla said: "The Covovax vaccine for kids will be launched in the first quarter of the next year most likely in January-February."
He also said that he is hopeful that for adults, Covovax will be launched in October, depending on Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approvals.
On the pricing front, Poonawalla said that it will be a two-dose vaccine and the price will be decided at the time of launch.
When asked about the production capacity of Covishield, the SII CEO said the present capacity is 130 million doses per month and always try to increase it further.
Even the Health Minister tweeted that he had a productive discussion on the supply of the Covishield vaccine with Poonawalla.
"I appreciated their role in mitigating #COVID19 & assured continued Government support in ramping up vaccine production," Mandaviya said.
Last month, SII's Covovax got DCGI approval for conducting phase 2/3 trials of Covovax on children aged 2 to 17 years with certain conditions. According to reports, the trials would cover 920 children, 460 each in the age group of 12-17 and 2-11 across 10 sites.