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A fire broke out Thursday in the Serum Institute of India, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, according to images on local television, although the Indian media assured that vaccine production was not affected.
Indian televisions showed huge gray smoke over the headquarters of the Serum Institute of India, in Pune (west), where millions of doses of the covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford are currently being produced.
However, according to the networks, the fire was declared in a site that is under construction, away from the facilities where vaccines are manufactured.
“The vaccine production facility was not affected and this will not affect production,” a source from the Serum Institute of India told Agence France-Presse, stating that “the fire occurred in the new factory under construction.”
“We have sent six or seven fire trucks to the scene. At the moment, we have no further information on the extent of the fire or on whether someone was trapped, “a local fire station official told AFP.
“Police teams arrived at the scene,” said the Pune police.
India is the second country most affected by covid-19, after the United States, with more than 10 million reported cases, although its mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world.
In early January, two vaccines were approved: Covishield, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and produced by the Serum Institute of India; and Covaxin, manufactured by the local company Bharat Biotech.
India started one of the world’s most ambitious vaccination campaigns on Saturday, immunizing 300 million people through July.
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