Covid-19: Maharashtra government gives Haffkine Institute eight-month timeline to roll out Covaxin

The Haffkine Institute is located in the Parel area of Mumbai and is the place where India’s first clinical trial was held in 1899. Credit: Special Arrangement

Credit: Special Arrangement

Credit: Special Arrangement

Credit: Special Arrangement

The Haffkine Institute in Mumbai would start rolling out India’s indigenous Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin in a matter of eight months’ time.

The Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd will be producing Covaxin in Mumbai as part of an agreement.

The Maharashtra government has given an eight-month timeline to the Haffkine Institute for production.

As part of the process, the Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd is building a BSL-3 laboratory.

“We have been given a timeline of eight months and the work is being executed on a war footing. The vaccine production process involves two stages – drug substance and final drug product,” Dr Sandeep Rathod, Managing Director of Haffkine BioPharma Corp Ltd said on Wednesday.

“For production of drug substance we need to build a Bio-Safety Level- 3 (BSL-3) facility, while Haffkine already has the Fill Finish facility” said Rathod, the doctor turned IAS officer.

BSL-3 is a safety standard applicable to such facilities where work involving microbes which can cause serious disease via inhalation route is carried out.

The company proposes to produce 22.8 crore doses of Covaxin in a year.

“For undertaking production of Covaxin, Haffkine Biopharma has been provided with Rs 65 crore grant by the Centre and Rs 94 crore from the Maharashtra Government,” he added.

The Maharashtra government has submitted the proposal under Mission Covid Suraksha in December, 2020, while in March-April, 2021, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and state Health Minister Rajesh Tope has done regular follow-ups with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsha Vardhan.

The Haffkine Institute is located in the Parel area of Mumbai and is the place where India’s first clinical trial was held in 1899 by legendary scientist Dr Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, who invented the Plague vaccine.