Covid-19: Serum Institute and Indian vaccination plan
Audio 02:37
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the Serum Institute of India, Pune, India on Saturday, November 28, 2020 © Office of the Prime Minister of India via AP
By: Côme Bastin Follow
6 min
100 million vaccines produced by the end of December: this is the promise of the Serum Institute in India.
This giant producer started the race in June.
But in this country with a very unequal medical infrastructure, the challenge will also be to distribute the vaccine to all inhabitants.
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It is a city within a city, protected as a military base.
West of the city of Pune, the campus of the Serum Institute of India covers 50 hectares and has its own airstrip.
In June, this vaccine producer, the largest in the world, got on the war footing.
It has entered into an agreement with the company AstraZeneca to produce the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford.
Suresh Jadav is its executive director: “
We calculated that with new factories it would be easy for us to produce 1
billion doses per year.
The Serum Institute has therefore invested $ 250 million for this.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines provided us with an
additional $
300 million. We should have 100
million ten-dose vials ready by the end of December.
"
We are allowed to enter one of the new vaccine factories, called Covishield.
Inside, no scientist has the right to speak to us.
Along endless corridors, windows let glimpse employees in coveralls on high-tech production lines.
The vials of the vaccine pass at high speed.
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See also: India, the world's factory for anti-Covid vaccines
The Serum Institute is not the only one in India.
The giant producers Bharat Biotech, Zydus Cadillac are preparing to launch massive productions.
This does not worry Suresh Jadav: “
Even if we only vaccinate 75% of the planet, we will need 12
billion doses.
No producer has these capabilities.
So we're going to need everyone at the start.
That being said, the competition will then be played on the choice of vaccine of the States.
They will base this on several criteria.
Is the vaccine safe
?
Is it effective
?
But also
: is it easy to store, transport, administer
?
"
The distribution of the vaccine is indeed a major challenge.
India wants to administer it from January to its nursing and municipal staff.
Dr Gagandeep Kang is a vaccine specialist at Christian Medical College, Vellore.
She underlines the gray areas that persist in the country's vaccination plan: "
We have few details on the vaccination date for the 270
million priority citizens, that is to say the oldest, those who are suffering. comorbidities.
We also need an inventory of our cold chain.
In some isolated areas, it is sometimes found that refrigerators do not work.
We will finally have to wait to know how long vaccines immunize.
And maybe have to launch a second campaign.
"
Second world population, India invests less than 2% of its GDP in public health, one of the lowest rates on the planet.
Here, vaccine production is therefore only the beginning of a long fight against the pandemic.
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