Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawala on Friday said it has applied to Indian authorities for full market authorisation of Covishield, stating supplies of the Covid-19 vaccine have exceeded 125 crore doses.

"Supplies of the COVISHIELD vaccine in India, have exceeded 1.25 billion doses. The government of India now has enough data for full market authorisation, and therefore @SerumInstIndia has applied to the @CDSCO_INDIA_INF (DCGI) and @MoHFW_INDIA for this permission," Poonawala said in a tweet tagging the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

SII had partnered with the developer of Covishield, AstraZeneca, for the supply of the vaccine to the Indian government, which had in January this year granted emergency use authorisation in the country.