Come October, and India looks to resume its export of Covid-19 vaccines. This had been discontinued during the peak of the pandemic’s second wave, earlier this year.

Last week, though, the Indian establishment had globally committed to an export of eight million Johnson & Johnson vaccines in October. A decision that has been received well in healthcare circles, especially since the vaccines were to be sent to low- and middle-income countries. However, questions remain on the local vaccine production, and how it would support domestic and foreign supply, say public health experts.

J&J has an alliance with Biological E to produce and distribute its one-dose vaccine. In recent statements, J&J top-brass have indicated that they had started from scratch at the Biological E facility, and hoped to start delivery by the year-end. However, there is no clarity whether the eight million supply will be made locally, or if the substance would be imported and the local production facility would do a final fill-and-finish job, says the expert.

A J&J spokesperson said in response to queries from BusinessLine: “Our teams are working around the clock to develop and broadly activate our manufacturing capabilities to supply our Covid vaccine. We believe Biological E will be an important part of our global vaccine supply chain network.”

J&J, along with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, American company Novavax’s candidate and the needle-free vaccine from home-grown company Zydus Cadila – are part of the Centre’s programme to cover the adult population by the year-end, at a pace of over 90 lakh vaccinations a day. However, three of these four vaccines are not yet available in India, even as Sputnik V faces manufacturing issues especially with its second dose, says an industry-source.

At present, Serum Institute has committed to a production of 20 crore doses a month for Covishield from October, while Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin stands at about 2.5 crore, way behind earlier projections. On the vaccination front, of the 88 crore-plus totally vaccinated in India, over 78 crore are with Covishield (AstraZeneca-OxfordUniversity vaccine) and 10 crore with Covaxin; Sputnik V accounts for about 43 lakh-plus and does not visibly show up on the CoWIN dashboard.