The CEO of Serum Institute of India, Adar Poonwalla hasannounced that the production of Covid19 vaccine, Covishield is in process andis working at its best speed. Adar is currently in London for meeting withstakeholders and partners and will review the operation once he is back in thecountry.
Adar Poonawalla said in a tweet, “Had an excellentmeeting with all our partners and stakeholders in the UK. Meanwhile, pleased tostate that COVISHIELD’s production in full swing in Pune. I look forward toreviewing the operation upon my return in a few days.”
The businessman is in London for the business plans toexpand the vaccine manufacturing to countries outside India. The UK can becomeone of the production bases and there might be an announcement regarding thesame in the next few days.
India is facing the second wave of coronavirus and isreporting more than 3 lakh cases in a single day. Meanwhile, the country hasjumped to the third drive of vaccination. However, several states are reportingthe shortage of vaccines and are unable to restock. Adar Poonawalla revealedthe pressure over the production of vaccines amid a shortage. He said theproduction is at its best speed to meet the demand for vaccine as the countryis devastated by the second wave.
From May 1, the government initiated the third drivevaccination allowing above 18 years to get vaccinated. But Delhi, Odisha,Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Punjabhas postponed this third phase as there no adequate dose of vaccine available.
Earlier, the CEO of SII, Poonawalla also asked thecentral government for financial assistance to speed up the production. SerumInstitute has also lowered vaccine prices to Rs 300 per dose from Rs 400 perdose for states.
In a recent interview, Poonawalla revealed that he’s beenreceiving aggressive calls from India’s top influential people for the vaccine.He said that everybody wants vaccine but are not ready to understand why someother people need vaccine before them.