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Updated June 8th, 2021 at 21:23 IST

Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN-manufacturing plant at Hyderabad to get CISF security next week

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) - governed by Home Ministry - is set to take over the security of Bharat Biotech's Hyderabad campus from next week

Reported by: Jitesh Vachhatani
CISF
Image Credits: Twitter/ANI/PTI | Image:self
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After concerns expressed by Serum Institute's CEO Adar Poonawalla, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) - governed by the Union Home Ministry - is set to take over the security of Bharat Biotech's Hyderabad campus from next week. Bharat Biotech's Hyderabad campus continues to manufacture COVAXIN which has been in circulation since the beginning of India's COVID-19 immunization drive. However, production of COVAXIN is also set to begin at three different plants across India - Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Mumbai - in a bid to ramp up stocks of the COVID vaccine. 

Adar Poonawalla raises security concerns 

Adar Poonawalla last month spoke about the pressures he was going through over the production of COVID-19 vaccines to meet the ever-increasing demand in India as the country was grappling with the devastating second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. Poonawalla also spoke about receiving "aggressive phone calls" from some of the most powerful people in the country, demanding Covishield supplies. He further mentioned that the pressure of aggressive calls was the reason for him flying to London along with his wife and children. 

However, he also indicated that his move to travel to London was also linked to his business plans to expand vaccine manufacturing to locations outside India which also includes the United Kingdom. The Poonawalla family is in London for over a month with Cyrus Poonawalla calling the trip to London a routine visit which his family does every year, according to reports.

Y category security cover to Adar Poonawalla

However, Adar Poonawalla has been given Y category security from the Centre in view of the threat perception amid the pandemic. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will provide this security cover to Poonawalla with armed commandos to accompany him every time he travels to any part of the country, according to the government officials.

The security was given after Serum Institute's director of government and regulatory affairs Prakash Kumar Singh wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on April 16 requesting security cover. Singh also talked about the threats that Poonawalla had received from various groups over supplies of the Covishield.

Bharat Biotech ramps up production in India 

In addition to the existing Hyderabad plant and the Bengaluru plant in process, Bharat Biotech last week announced the setting up of an additional manufacturing unit of COVAXIN in Gujarat to boost the production of its COVID-19 vaccines. The Hyderabad-based pharma firm informed that COVAXIN will now be manufactured by Chiron Behring Vaccines, Ankleshwar, Gujarat, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharat Biotech. It has set an aim to produce 200 million doses of COVAXIN within a year, with the vaccine availability at the Ankleshwar facility to commence from the fourth Quarter of 2021. With the addition of a manufacturing plant in Gujarat, Bharat Biotech has now ramped up the production of COVAXIN to 1 billion doses per annum, in its own established campuses. 

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Published June 8th, 2021 at 21:23 IST

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