Bharat Biotech unveils first commercial batch of COVAXIN manufactured in Ankleshwar

New Delhi/Hyderabad: Bharat Biotech on 29th August announced the commercial launch of the first batch of COVAXIN from its Chiron Behring Vaccines facility in Ankleshwar, Gujarat. With specialized bio safety containment facilities in Hyderabad, Malur, Ankleshwar, and Pune, the company is steadily moving towards its aim of ~ 1 billion doses of annualized capacity.

Union Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya who inaugurated the COVAXIN batches said, “India is focused on slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the country, and the key to achieving this lies in the swift and efficient administration of vaccines. We want to ensure equitable access of the vaccine to every Indian citizen, and the expansion of COVAXIN production facilities by Bharat Biotech will take us closer to this goal.”

Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, said, “We want to ensure that Bharat Biotech can ably meet the demand for COVAXIN such that individuals across the country, and the globe, have access to the vaccine and can secure their health and safety. Our goal to develop a vaccine with global safety and efficacy standards has now been achieved, we are now marching towards the goal of annualized capacity of ~ 1.0 billion doses.”

Suchitra Ella, Joint Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, said, “It is with great pleasure that we welcome Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, to our specialized manufacturing facility. I am happy to share that our efforts over the last one year have fructified, and we are now several steps closer to achieving our goal of providing COVAXIN to all pockets of the country and overseas. The pandemic has impacted people across the globe, and it is only through collaborative efforts that we can hope to mitigate its spread and impact.”

Bharat Biotech is also exploring manufacturing partnerships with its partners in other countries, who have prior expertise with commercial scale manufacturing of inactivated viral vaccines under biosafety containment for further augmentation.