Bharat Biotech International Ltd has stated that it will boost the production of its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin to about 70 crore doses per year, reported Bloomberg. The expansion comes after the Center provided the company ₹65 crore grant last week.

The Hyderabad-based company said that inactivated vaccines are highly safe, but are complex and costly to manufacture, leading to lower yields in comparison with live virus vaccines. The company said that it has collaborated with Indian Immunologicals (IIL) to manufacture the drug substance for the vaccine. The company added that manufacturing partnerships were being explored with partners in other countries, having expertise with commercial level manufacturing of inactivated viral vaccines under biosafety containment… (Mint, April 20, 2021)