Govt looking into securing part of J&J vaccines for Indian market

Sources say Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine to be manufactured in India by Biological E cannot be directly channeled to the domestic market, reported The Economic Times.

The sources said it will have to be handed over entirely to Johnson & Johnson, as agreed by the firms, but the Indian government is looking at the possibility of securing a part of this production.

However, Biological E has proposed to manufacture about 30 crore doses of its indigenous vaccine, currently in Phase I/II testing, exclusively for the Indian market by December and has sought "funding support" from the government.

According to the sources, there are limited prospects of Johnson & Johnson exporting its vaccine from the US to other countries in the near future and the "entire production" at Biological E facilities in India will be handed over to the US company as agreed between the companies.

Biological E is likely to start "fill and finish" of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in July-August and manufacturing of the vaccine in the last quarter of the year.

The Development Finance Corporation of the US is supporting Biological E for setting up three additional fill and finish lines, exclusively for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and they plan to manufacture about 1 billion doses by the end of 2022, the sources said.