New Delhi: Chief Executive Officer of Serum Institute of India (SII) Adar Poonawalla said that the vaccine manufacturer has stopped making Covishield since December 2021 and of the total stock available at that time, around 100 million doses had already expired.
“Boosters have no demand at the moment. There is lethargy generally. People are fed up of Covid, vaccines. To be honest, I am also fed up with it. We all are,” news agency PTI quoted Poonawalla as saying.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of an annual general meeting of Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN), Poonawalla said that booster doses have no demand as there is general lethargy among people and also because they are fed up with the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Since December 2021, we stopped the production (of Covishield). We had a stock of a few hundred million doses at that time and of that, 100 million doses have already expired," he said.
"Now, Covovax should be allowed in two weeks. So, I think they will and should probably have the policy to mix boosters. If WHO allowed it, then maybe the Indian regulator will and should allow it,” Poonawalla said.
He further said that in future, when people take a few jabs every year, they may take anti-coronavirus vaccines and other shots together.
"In India, there is no culture of taking flu shots as we see it in the West. We tried when we launched a few vaccines in 2010. During the H1NI pandemic in 2011, no one took it. Flu is not something that sounds scary to people. They just do not want to take it," Poonawalla said.
It is to be noted that Covishield was produced by SII in Pune with a master seed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
The Serum Institute of India had announced its partnership with Oxford University to manufacture the vaccine in April 2020.