The Indian government is doling out ₹1500 crore to reserve 300 million of Biological-E’s COVID-19 vaccine doses

• The Indian government is booking 300 million doses of Biological-E’s COVID-19 vaccine in advance in the face of a massive shortage.
• Biological-E’s candidate will be the second ‘made-in-India’ vaccine to hit the market after Bharat Biotech.
• The government is shelling out a massive ₹1500 crore to secure the doses.

In a bid to meet the increasing demand for the Coronavirus vaccine, the Indian government is shelling out ₹1,500 crore to secure 300 million doses of Biological-E’s COVID-19 vaccine in advance.

The price of Biological-E’s vaccine is not publicly known, but according to the company, it is aiming to be one of the ‘most affordable’ options in the country.

This will be the second domestically developed vaccine to hit the market, once approved, after Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. The vaccine candidate, which is modelled after the Hepatitis E vaccine, is currently undergoing Phase III of its clinical trials.

“The proposal of M/s Biological-E was examined and recommended for approval after due diligence by National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC),” said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in a statement.

Biological-E is developing the vaccine in association with the Baylor College of Medicine in the US and already has two agreements in place to manufacture the vaccine in India — one with Canada-based Providence Therapeutics Holdings and another with Johnson & Johnson.

Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India (SII) also received advances to book vaccine doses for the Indian government, but that was only after the nation-wide vaccine drive was in full swing in April.

According to India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company will start manufacturing and stockpiling doses somewhere between August and December 2021.


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