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NEW DELHI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The Serum Institute of India
(SII) plans to launch the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for
children in the country in six months, its CEO said on Tuesday,
adding global vaccine supplies were outstripping the absorption
capacity of many countries.
The Novavax shot, which the world's largest producer of
vaccines calls Covovax, has shown good results in trials in
children aged three and older, Adar Poonawalla told a virtual
conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
"Our vaccine will be launched in six months," he said. "It
is under trial and has shown excellent data all the way down to
the age group of 3."
Apart from the Novavax vaccine that it has already exported
to countries such as Indonesia, SII also makes the AstraZeneca
and Sputnik shots.
SII's monthly output of the AstraZeneca vaccine has nearly
quadrupled since April to 250 million doses, and it has
announced plans to temporarily halve that production due to weak
demand.
Poonawalla said current global vaccine supply was far bigger
than what many countries could consume despite them inoculating
only a fraction of their population, mainly due to
infrastructure shortages.
"Globally, including in India, the supply has outmatched the
demand," he said. "Certain countries have only vaccinated to the
tune of 10% or 15% of the population, they really need to go to
60-70%."
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das; editing by Clarence Fernandez and
Jason Neely)
