The first batch of Covovax, a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Novavax Inc, is being manufactured at the Serum Institute of India's Pune facility, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Friday.

"Excited to witness the first batch of Covovax (developed by @Novavax) being manufactured this week at our facility in Pune. The vaccine has great potential to protect our future generations below the age of 18. Trials are ongoing. Well done team @seruminstindia," Poonawalla said in a tweet.

In March this year, he had said that the clinical trials of Covovax vaccine have begun in India and the company hopes to launch it by September this year.

In August 2020, American vaccine company Novavax Inc had announced a licence agreement with SII for the development and commercialisation of NVX-CoV2373, its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, in low and middle-income countries and India.

In January this year, the Serum Institute had rolled out Covishield vaccine in the country. It had entered into a collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine.

In that month itself, Poonawalla had said SII expected to launch Covovax by June 2021.

"Our partnership for a COVID-19 vaccine with @Novavax has also published excellent efficacy results. We have also applied to start trials in India. Hope to launch #COVOVAX by June 2021!", Poonawalla had said in a tweet.

SII is already supplying AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, in India and to other countries across the world.