India is experiencing a scarcity of Covishield and Covaxin due to the expiration of batches of these vaccinations.  According to Pune, Mumbai, and Delhi hospital representatives, the problem arose due to these vaccinations exceeding their expiry dates.

The CoWIN webpage stated that just 182 private and government facilities in India were performing the COVID-19 immunization drives as of Saturday, according to only eight sites in Delhi and 47 in Maharashtra were performing the doses.

A senior health department official in Maharashtra stated that all government centers in the state had ceased vaccination due to the latest stock of Covaxin expiring on March 3, and they have had no Covishield store since February this year.

The intranasal vaccine developed by Bharat Biotec, "iNCOVACC" may now be administered as a heterologous booster dose.

According to Dr. N K Arora, the chairman of the COVID-19 working group, most persons have gotten Covishield and Covaxin as primary doses, and Corbevax or iNCOVACC can now be used as heterologous prophylactic doses.

Dr. Madhav Chavan, managing director of Phoenix Hospital in Pune, stated that Covishield and Covaxin dosages had just expired and they had been in contact with both the companies(SII and Bharat Biotech) to supply the doses, but that manufacturing had ceased.  With the increase in COVID cases, there is a high need for booster dosages; however, CoWIN certifications cannot be created when Corbevax is used as a mix-and-match booster.

On Friday, CoWIN listed only one centre  in Bhandup, Mumbai, providing Covishield; however, a representative from the hospital stated that their Covishield stock had expired on April 6 and was no longer accessible.  Also, only East West Medical Centre in Delhi administered Covishield, while the remainder administered Corbevax and Covovax.

Due to stock expiration, none of the five hospitals in Pune that previously had Covishield delivered the vaccination on Friday.

(Source: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/hospitals-across-india-run-out-of-covishield-covaxin-stock/99332977)