BENGALURU: The Indian government on Thursday said it has inked an agreement with domestic vaccine maker Biological-E for 300 million COVID-19 vaccine doses worth 15 billion rupees ($205.62 million), the first such order for unapproved shots. is.
The vaccine, which is currently undergoing phase-3 clinical trials, is likely to be available next month, the health ministry said in a statement.
Biologicals E., which has a separate deal to annually produce about 600 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 shot, said on Tuesday that it has signed a contract with Canada-based company Providence Therapeutics to manufacture the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. entered into a licensing agreement with Holdings. India.
Biologicals-e will conduct clinical trials of the Providence vaccine in India and seek emergency use approval.
India, the world’s second most populous country, is facing a devastating second wave of infections that is now coming to an end.
Health experts India needs to mass vaccinate its 1.3 billion people to mitigate the effects of subsequent waves.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has drawn criticism for slow vaccine rollout, even though India is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of doses.
Earlier in May, Biological-E Managing Director Mahima Datla had said that the company plans to manufacture 75 lakh to 8 crore doses in the month from August.