The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has reportedly decided to provide $150 million in at-risk funds towards helping the Serum Institute of India rapidly manufacture the Covid-19 vaccines developed by the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca and Novavax. As part of this new agreement, SII will be responsible for delivering up to 100 million doses of the vaccines priced at $3 (around Rs 225) a dose for India and low- and middle-income countries.
The collaboration, which involves GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance, will provide SII with “upfront capital” through the Foundation’s Strategic Investment Funds. This is expected to help the Pune-headquartered vaccine maker increase its manufacturing capacity to produce either or both vaccines “at scale” for distribution. Once they receive regulatory approvals and WHO prequalification, the doses are expected to be produced “as early as the first half of 2021”, according to SII.
Also Read: First the Coronavirus and now a Tick Borne Virus?
"In an attempt to make our fight against COVID-19 stronger and all-embracing; SII has partnered with Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance the manufacturing and delivery of up to 100 million doses of future COVID vaccines for India and low and middle income countries in 2021," said Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India.
"The rampant spread of the virus has rendered the entire world in an unimaginable halt of uncertainty. And to ensure maximum immunization coverage and contain the pandemic, it is important to make sure that the most remote and poorest countries of the world have access to affordable cure and preventive measures. Through this association, we seek to ramp up our constant efforts to save the lives of millions of people from this dreadful disease."