Poonawalla, who is in London, however, noted that the company is making every effort to enhance production of Covishield amid the second wave of COVID in the country.
A technical advisory group of the World Health Organisation was on Tuesday reviewing data on Covaxin for the emergency use listing of India's indigenously-made vaccine and it could pronounce its decision within the next 24 hours or so, a spokesperson said.
Of the 23.9 million vaccinators who provide vaccination under the universal immunisation programme, 15.4 million will be used for Covid vaccination.
Speaking during Prime Minister Narendra Modis video conference meeting with chief ministers of eight states which have reported high COVID-19 cases, Thackeray said the PM or Union Home Minister Amit Shah should convene a meeting of all parties to tell them about the seriousness of the situation.
Anybody over 50 years of age or with co-morbidities can get a date, place and time of choice for getting the vaccine shots.
At 8 million a month, times two doses, it will take us 17 years to administer the vaccine to our 800 million adults. The rollout must speed up twenty times, asserts Naushad Forbes.
We have applied for marketing authorisation to the EMA through AstraZeneca. We will not sell the vaccine in the EU, said a company source.
The Serum Institute of India, the largest vaccine maker in the world, has been chosen by Oxford and its partner AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine once it is ready. Trials results for the first two phases were published earlier this month.
Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, Manipur and Telangana report the most wastage.
Some states have flagged the shortage of vaccines and expressed their inability to start vaccination of people above 18 years from Saturday
This means there are now four promising vaccines on the horizon after Pfizer-BioNTech, Sputnik and Moderna already reporting good preliminary data from Phase 3 trials.
Lauding the scientists and technicians for the 'Made in India' vaccines, he said the country is proud of them.
Several private hospitals across the country said they have no clarity on procuring COVID-19 vaccines under the new policy announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that it has led to the vaccination being put on hold at their centres.
The UK's National Health Service was already lining up thousands of medics and volunteers to be ready to deliver jabs up and down the country.
"The phase-III trial of 'Covishield' vaccine will begin at Sassoon hospital from next week. It is likely to start on Monday. Some volunteers have already come forward for the trial. "Around 150 to 200 volunteers will be administered the vaccine candidate dose," Dean of the state-run Sassoon General Hospital Dr Muralidhar Tambe said.
Time's profile of Modi says that in its 74 years as an independent nation, India has had three pivotal leaders -- Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Modi. "Narendra Modi is the third, dominating the country's politics like no one since them."
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that more pharma companies should be allowed to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine in the country during the pandemic to scale up production.
The Bombay high court on Saturday directed the central government to file an affidavit detailing the manner and methods of allocating COVID-19 vaccines to states.
The Union health ministry on Sunday clarified that already booked online appointments for second dose of Covishield vaccine will remain valid and the same will not be cancelled on Co-WIN platform.
'I don't think anybody would want to be in my position today where every head of State has to be explained that I am prioritising my country because there is a surge in cases.'
A technical advisory group of the UN health agency which met on Tuesday has sought "additional clarifications" from Bharat Biotech for Covaxin to conduct a final "risk-benefit assessment" for Emergency Use Listing of the vaccine.
The 'terrible' surge of the coronavirus cases in India has severely impacted COVAX's vaccine supply in the second quarter of this year to the extent that there will be a shortfall of 190 million doses by the end of June, according to a joint statement by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and CEPI.
Biological E has received approval for conducting phase II/III human clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine candidate Corbevax on children above five years and adolescents, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) said on Friday.
The Indian government and private firms have stepped up efforts to develop a vaccine to halt the spread of COVID-19 which has claimed over 3,700 lives with more than 1,25,000 cases in the country.
Sources close to the development said the company had no further supply commitments to the WHO, and therefore, there was no suspension of any upcoming orders, reports Sohini Das.
The Centre has also contacted five domestic and three multinational vaccine makers to understand how soon a candidate vaccine against Covid-19 will be ready.
Starting July 1, private hospitals in the country will no longer be allowed to directly procure COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturers and have to place orders on the Centre's CoWIN portal.
SII's CEO Adar Poonawalla took to Twitter to announce the "philanthropic" gesture.
The Centre on April 19 had announced a ''liberalised'' policy, making all above 18 years of age eligible to get vaccinated from May 1. It has also allowed state governments and private hospitals to purchase vaccines from manufacturers.
The Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 of the CDSCO on October 12 after deliberating Bharat Biotech's EUA application had recommended granting emergency use approval to Covaxin for use in the 12-18 years age group with certain conditions.
On Wednesday, the Maharashtra government had said that it would not be able to launch the 18-45 age group vaccination drive from May 1 due to the shortage of vaccines.
The procurement and distribution will be centralised though the government is yet to take a call on the initial number of doses that will be procured.
The western world had largely considered India to be a production hub, and also, a good potential geography for clinical trials, and a big market. But in Covid-19 research, Indian companies and government researchers are also researching new drug candidates and potential vaccines, says Prosenjit Datta.
SII said it will address the limited capacity by scaling up the vaccine production over the next two months.
Railway employees including station masters, engine drivers, ticket checkers, etc too have been selected for vaccination and their list is being compiled for the exercise.
The government on Tuesday set the maximum price private hospitals can charge for the three COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the country -- Covishield Rs 780 per dose, Covaxin Rs 1,410 and Sputnik V Rs 1,145.
The technical advisory group will now meet on November 3 for a final assessment.
India is committed to supplying COVID-19 vaccines to other nations and such supplies are likely to begin by the end of this year, as the abundant production will not just meet domestic needs but also generate surplus for exports a top government official said on Monday.
Two male volunteers were administered the vaccine at Bharti Vidyapeeth's Medical College and Hospital, a senior office-bearer of the hospital said.
The distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine is underway across the world. To provide a convenient and safe place for people to receive COVID-19 vaccines, countries around the world transform shopping malls, churches, airports, subway stations and museums to vaccination centers. Some also offer vaccination services on the river and mountain.
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