Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday asked the Union government to direct Bharat Biotech and ICMR-NIV to transfer the Covaxin manufacturing technology and IPR (intellectual property rights) to "whoever is interested and capable of manufacturing the vaccine" so that the production could be ramped up. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jagan said that the present total manufacturing capacity of Covaxin does not cater to the country's requirement.
"It may take several months to get all vaccinated at this pace … We would request you to please direct Bharat Biotech to do technology transfer of manufacturing the COVAXIN and ICMR-NIV to provide the viral strain to whoever interested and capable of manufacturing the vaccine. Please explore the possibility of involving all such production firms and enable them with the technology, intellectual property rights to deliver the vaccine as quickly and as affordable as possible," the Chief Minister said, adding that the move will ensure that patents or IPR are not a hindrance.
"Anyone who can manufacture or is interested in manufacturing the vaccine should be encouraged to do so in the larger public interest. Entire manufacturing capacity should be mobilised and put to use in this testing times," Jagan added. He said the Prime Minister's intervention on these suggestions, and if implemented, would go a long way in encouraging the manufacturers and accelerate the supply of vaccines.
The Chief Minister said "we are not able to vaccinate our population at large" due to short supply of vaccine, though the state demonstrated its capacity to inoculate six lakh people per day. "I look forward to your favourable orders in this matter," Jagan told the Prime Minister.
As of May 11 morning, Andhra Pradesh had officially recorded a total of 1,95,102 active COVID-19 cases, and the total official COVID-19 death toll rose to 8,899. According to the CoWIN dashboard, a total of 74,62,340 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the state as of May 11, of which 54,50,404 doses were the first dose, and 20,11,936 doses were the second dose.