SII Optimistic about distributing COVAX in India and other countries by end of this year

Serum Institute of India Ltd hopes to distribute COVAX by end of this year, creating a sigh of relief in the public mind amid corona pandemic.

A media release issued by Serum Institute of India (SII) Adar Poonawalla disclosed the issue on Tuesday.

“We continue to scale up manufacturing and prioritise India. We also hope to start delivering to COVAX and other countries by end of this year,” he said.

Terming Covid 19 crisis difficult on people across the globe including India, he said there has been intense discussion recently on the decision of Indian government and vaccine manufacturers including SII to export vaccines.

"We must also understand that this pandemic is not limited by geographic or political boundaries. We will not be safe until everyone globally is able to defeat the virus. Further, as part of our global alliances, we also had commitments to COVAX, so that they could distribute the vaccines around the world to end the pandemic," it added.

Adar Poonawalla asserted that his company 'never exported vaccines at cost of the people of India'. SII produces AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine named Covishield in India.

Poonawalla underlined that vaccination in a large populous country such as India won't be possible in 2-3 months.

About capacity, he said SII has delivered more than 200mn doses, even though we received EUA two months after the US pharma companies. As far as production and delivery of the total doses concerned, SII ranks amongst the top three in the world, he opined.