Serum Institute of India (SII) has informed the Centre that it will be able to supply around 20 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield in September itself to Government to India and private hospitals, official sources said.

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The Pune-based SII has already supplied 12 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in August, they said. Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at SII, Prakash Kumar Singh has communicated to the Union Health Ministry that the firm has further enhanced its production capacity and it will be able to supply approximately 20 crore doses of Covishield in September itself to the Government of India and private hospitals, an official source said.

In a production plan submitted to the Centre in May, SII's director had communicated that the production of Covishield would be ramped up to 10 crore each in August and September, sources had said. Later in May-end, Singh communicated to Union Home Minister that Covishield production would be ramped up to 10 crore doses in June.

"We are committed to enhancing the production capacity of our Covishield vaccine and have been working round-the-clock in spite of various challenges being faced by us because of COVID-19 pandemic. "We are pleased to inform that in the month of June we will be able to manufacture and supply 9-10 crore doses of our Covishield vaccine to our country as compared to our present production capacity of 6.5 crore doses in May," he had said.