After holding a review meeting on Saturday with the Prime Minister Narendra modiPoonawalla said: “All over the world, now everyone is dependent and is waiting for vaccines to come out in large volumes and at an affordable price from India as everyone knows that more than 50 to 60 percent of all vaccines are made in India. ”
“As of now, we have nothing in writing with the government about how many doses they will buy, but the indication is that it would be 300-400 million doses by July 2021,” he added.
Earlier today, PM Modi visited the Serum Institute of India and reviewed the progress of the ‘Covishield’ vaccine being made there.
Modi interacted with scientists at the Serum Institute and toured the facility, taking stock of the vaccine development work that was taking place there.
Speaking about the discussion with the prime minister, Poonawalla said: “Prime Minister Modi is now extremely knowledgeable about vaccines and vaccine production. We were surprised by what he already knew. There was very little to explain to him except to go into detail about different variable vaccines and the challenges they may face in the future, “said Poonawalla.
Poonawalla also said that the vaccine will be distributed first in India and then in COVAX countries which are mainly located in Africa, adding that AstraZeneca & Oxford will serve the UK and European markets.
Serum Institute of India has partnered with global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford for the vaccine.
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