Parl panel asked govt in March to ramp up vaccine production

New Delhi: A parliamentary standing committee had in March suggested ramping up of production capacity of the two COVID vaccines manufactured in India for ensuring their availability to a wider population as soon as possible after it was informed that there could be a "shortage" if the inoculation is opened beyond the priority groups.

The recommendation was made by the 31-member committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, chaired by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, in its report on Demand for Grants for Department of Biotechnology that was tabled in Parliament on March 8. The panel has as many as 14 members from the ruling BJP.

"The Committee...recommends...to strengthen...the efforts for ramping up the production capacity of the two approved vaccines as well as provide all research, laboratory infrastructure and capacity building support to the other vaccine candidates in the pipeline, in order to ensure the availability of a safe, affordable, and efficacious vaccine to the wider population as soon as possible," the report said.

According to sources, during the standing committee meeting on February 17, members of the panel had asked as to how soon the vaccination exercise can be opened beyond priority groups, to which it was conveyed that there could be a shortage if it is opened beyond the priority groups.

When asked about the recommendation of the committee, Ramesh said it was clear to the panel from the submissions made by the government that the current production would be inadequate to meet the demand for vaccines.

India needs around 1.9 billion doses to fully vaccinate all adults. It was clear to the Standing Committee from the data presented by the government that the current production capacity is inadequate to meet that demand.

"That's why we recommended that the production capacity must be ramped up as soon as possible. Alas, this wasn't done, and now we are facing a massive vaccine shortage, the house panel chairman Jairam Ramesh said.

However, BJP MP from Jhansi Anurag Sharma, who was part of the panel, said the Centre had worked on the committee's recommendations by allocating funds to both Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India.

Several states have decided to issue global tenders for procurement of COVID vaccines as the domestic supply has failed to keep up with the rising demand amid the fierce second wave of the pandemic.

These include Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha.

The parliamentary panel report tabled in March also mentions that Covaxin, developed jointly by Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has a planned production capacity of 150 million

doses per year.