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* Govt wants to inoculate all adults by year's end
* Bharat Biotech has struggled to ramp up output
By Krishna N. Das
NEW DELHI, July 26 (Reuters) - India will miss a target to
administer over a half billion COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end
of the month as Bharat Biotech - maker of its only approved
homegrown shot - struggles to boost output, an analysis of
government data showed on Monday.
India has undertaken one of the world's largest vaccination
drives and has so far distributed some 430 million doses - more
than any country except China, but less than many countries
relative to its population.
The government said in May it would make 516 million shots
available by the end of July. It wants to inoculate all its
estimated 944 million adults by December.
To meet the July-end target, however, authorities will have
to more than triple average daily vaccinations to 14 million
doses. But that will not be possible, based on the latest supply
projections for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin vaccine.
The government had been counting on deliveries of 60 million
to 70 million Covaxin doses monthly from July or August.
But Bharat Biotech will only supply 25 million doses this
month and 35 million in August as a new production line in the
southern city of Bengaluru takes time to come online, Health
Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told parliament last week.
Mandaviya added that the supply shortfall "would not affect
our immunisation programme".
The health ministry did no immediately respond to a request
for comment. Bharat Biotech declined to comment on its
production.
The government is counting on 500 million doses of another
vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII) and 400 million
doses from Bharat Biotech between August and December for its
vaccination campaign.
India's drug regulator controversially approved Bharat
Biotech's Covaxin for emergency use in early January without
efficacy data. But it has missed nearly all supply commitments
to the government.
Immunisation efforts have also been hobbled by a delayed
rollout of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. And legal obstacles have
prevented India from receiving U.S. donations of Moderna
or Pfizer vaccines.
After halting exports in mid-April to meet domestic demand,
SII meanwhile has nearly doubled output in the past three
months.
Nearly 88% of all vaccine doses administered in India to
date have been SII's Covishield shot, a version of the
AstraZeneca vaccine.
The government expects the company to raise supplies of its
Covishield vaccine to about 120 million doses in August from 100
million doses in June.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das;
Editing by Joe Bavier)
