The CEO of the Serum Institute of India, Adar Poonawala, said that the company stopped producing the covishield vaccine in December last year due to low demand.

The institute added that it had to dispose of 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine after its expiration date.

The Institute of serology in India, which is the world's largest vaccine maker, manufactures the domestic version of the vaxxivria vaccine produced by AstraZeneca.

The covishield vaccine accounts for more than 90 percent of the coronavirus vaccine doses administered in India.

India has given its citizens more than two billion doses of vaccines against coronavirus. The Federal Ministry of Health says that more than 70 percent of India's population has received at least two doses.

In January 2022, India began offering booster doses to healthcare workers, frontline workers, and patients over the age of 60, before later expanding the order to all adults.

Last July, the country offered free booster shots - or prophylactic shots as the government calls them-to all adults for 75 days to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India's independence.

But so far, India has provided only 298 million booster doses, according to the Ministry of Health.

"Booster vaccines don't have to be in demand, as people seem to be tired of the coronavirus now," Poonawala told reporters. Honestly, I'm tired too, we're all bored,"he said.

According to Poonawala, the Serum Institute of India had a stockpile of about 100 million doses of the covishield vaccine. The vaccines - which have a validity of nine months - expired in September this year.

The CEO of the company was speaking on the sidelines of the Annual General Meeting of the network of vaccine manufacturers in developing countries in the western Indian city of Pune.

"From now on, when people get the flu vaccine every year, they may get the corona vaccine with it. But in India, there is no culture of getting the flu vaccine every year, unlike in the West,"he said.

Meanwhile, Poonawala said that the Institute of serology in India has completed its trials on the covovax vaccine as a booster dose. The company expects the vaccine to receive approval within the next two weeks.

He said that the company entered into a partnership with the American biotech company "Novavax" to produce a special Omicron booster vaccine.