World's Largest Vaccine Manufacturer Stops Making COVID-19 Vaccines As 200M Doses Pile-Up: Bloomberg

Serum Institute of India Ltd, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has stopped making new batches of COVID-19 shots after its stockpile grew to 200 million doses amid a global supply glut, reports Bloomberg.

“We have got 200 million doses of stock. We had to shut down production in December,” Serum’s chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said at the India Economic Conclave organized by Times Network on Friday, saying he was worried about wastage if the shots expired. “I have even offered to give free donations to whoever wanted to take it.”

Serum manufactures the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc AZN and Oxford University, and the shot from Novovax Inc NVAX.

Vaccine makers invested in massive production capacity over the past year, and some of that has come online only after most countries covered much of their populations with two doses. 

Poonawala said that Serum, a core supplier for the WHO-backed Covax program, is drafting a “global pandemic treaty” to bring about free flow and coordination of essential resources like raw materials for vaccine production in the next crisis.

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