An Indian safety guard stands subsequent to the first cargo of 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine made by Serum Institute of India, donated by the Indian authorities to Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 7, 2021.
As the authorities continues to face a large opposition backlash over the shortage of Covid vaccines in the nation and the determination to export them earlier this yr, Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Tuesday asserted that his firm ‘by no means 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 big populous nation resembling India will not be potential in 2-3 months.
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“The Covid 19 crisis has been difficult on people across the globe, including India. In the past few days, there has been intense discussion on the decision of our Government and Indian vaccine manufacturers including SII to export vaccines,” a media assertion issued by Poonawalla acknowledged.
“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.
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Poonawalla, who’s presently stated to be in UK, stated that in January 2021, India has a stockpile of vaccine doses. “Our vaccination drive had started successfully and the number of daily cases were at an all-time low. At that stage, most people including health experts believed that India was turning the tide on the pandemic,” he stated.
