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Video report by senior international correspondent John Irvine
The CEO of the world’s leading vaccine producer says he believes the UK will be among the first countries to receive the new coronavirus prick.
Adar Poonawalla Serum Institute India has committed to producing 1 billion doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine once the necessary safety tests are passed.
Speaking to ITV News, he says his company is prepared and ready to pull the vaccine off the production line and ship it into the arms of the world once the necessary approvals are given.
“It will be the Indians who get it first, at least for what I’m doing, and AstraZeneca will produce it for the UK,” he said.
“So if you speak from a global perspective, the UK will probably get it first. So maybe they have other countries in Europe at the same time after what AstraZeneca has planned there.
“And then there is India, as soon as we start obtaining, as soon as we obtain our emergency use license, we will give it to India and then we will start offering it to African countries.”
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India Ready to Produce 400 Million Vaccine Doses by End of July, Vaccines Executive Director Says
Oxford vaccine has the added benefit of being able to be stored at refrigerator temperature and is inexpensive compared to some of its other competitors, making it a viable option for the most disadvantaged parts of the world.
This, says Mr. Poonawalla, means that it can be a “vaccine for the world.”
“He protects the elderly, gives him a good T-cell response and has not had any hospitalization,” he said.
“It’s very affordable because we’re doing it to make that the added bonus. So it has five or six of these perks and bonuses, and therefore it’s the most universal.
“It will probably be the most universally used vaccine.”
Logistical concerns have been raised about the distribution of vaccines in India, but Poonawalla believes that the necessary infrastructure is in place to ensure that up to 400 million doses can be transported from the production line to different areas of the country by the end of July.
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The world’s leading vaccine producer plays down its role
Poonawalla said: “We are relying mainly on the government infrastructure, which is very present.
“And they are used to handling five to 600 million doses of vaccines a year.”
He added: “We will engage other private actors, be they hospitals or other cultural logistics companies to be able to distribute transport and store these vaccines.” He said the initial plan was to produce 400 million doses by July 2021, which is “very easy.”
The 39-year-old CEO joined his father’s business in 2001. The Poonawalla family inherited land in Pune, India, but has been one of the world’s leading vaccine players since its founding in 1966.
The world has become so dependent on its vaccines that John Irvine, a correspondent for ITV News, described Mr. Poonawall as the “Henry Ford of vaccines.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Poonawalla said.
“We’ve tried to do our best and I know everything looks like this right now. It’s overwhelming, and I’m really honored with that, with the encouragement, our encouragement, love and support that everyone has given us.
“I just hope we can deliver and deliver on all these great promises that we’ve made, you know, so I think that’s what we’re looking forward to in 2021, as you say, it’s a huge responsibility on my shoulders. Everyone else at the serum Institute. I really hope we can meet expectations. “
