The health minister of Maharashtra on March 17 said the state government wants to manufacture the Covaxin vaccine against COVID-19 at Mumbai's Haffkine Institute, one of the country's oldest and premier biomedical research facilities.

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"Bharat Biotech produces Covaxin. If we get the formula from the company, the Maharashtra government is ready to manufacture it in Haffkine Institute, which has all the required facilities. It will help get more people vaccinated against COVID-19 in a short period", the aim is to increase vaccination in order to contain the coronavirus pandemic", he stated.

"The state government is also ready if Bharat Biotech wants to produce Covaxin in Haffkine Institute. The only condition is that 25 per cent of (such) production must be reserved (for the state)," the minister added. Commenting on the surge in COVID-19 cases since February 14, he said his government has requested the National Centre for Disease Control to find out whether there is a new strain in Maharashtra so that a new set of precautions can be put in place to stop the spread.