Serum Institute of India Ltd, the world’s largest vaccine maker and a significant supplier of Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries, has raised its stockpile to 200 million doses amid a global oversupply. Stop producing new batches of vaccines.

“We have a stockpile of 200 million doses. We had to shut down production in December,” Serum Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla told the Times Network’s Economics of India conference on Friday, worrying about waste if the vaccine expires. “I even offered to make a free donation to anyone who wanted to take it.”

Serum’s woes underscore a vaccine glut spread in a world that once desperately needed immunisation against the coronavirus. Vaccine makers have invested in large-scale production capacity over the past year, some of which came online only after most countries covered large parts of the population with two vaccine doses. Aside from China and Hong Kong, which implemented Covid Zero, the global adjustment to coexisting with the virus has also downplayed the urgency of the boost.

The shift is particularly evident in India, where just a year ago, it imposed an export ban on Serum and other local producers to ensure adequate supplies for the local population. The country now allows booster shots for everyone over 18, with Poonawalla urging broader expansion. The government is also expected to recommend reducing the interval between booster shots from nine months now to six months after the second dose, he said.

Poonawala said Serum is a core supplier to the WHO-backed Covax project, which helps ensure vaccine delivery to developing countries, and is drafting a “global pandemic treaty” to enable access to essential resources such as raw materials for vaccine production. Free flow and coordination. in the next crisis.

Serum cited protectionist measures in other countries as one of the reasons for the shortage of raw materials. It failed to meet vaccine production targets at the height of the pandemic. The company makes vaccines developed by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, as well as vaccines from Novovax Inc.

Like most other countries, life in India has primarily passed the Covid era. However, cases have risen again, prompting the capital, New Delhi, to reinstate mask-wearing rules in public this week.