Amid consistent backlash from various quarters, including the Opposition Congress, over the extreme shortage of vaccines in India at a time when the second wave of Covid-19 is ripping through lives and livelihoods, Covishield maker Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla clarified that SII has “never exported vaccines at the cost of the people of India”.
Stating that in January, when Covid-19 cases in India ‘were at an all-time low’, and everyone, including health experts, believed that the country was turning the tide against the pandemic, other countries were ‘in desperate need of help’.
“Today, it is this reciprocity, where India has helped other countries with the supply of HCQ and vaccine exports, that has, in turn, led to support from other countries”, Poonawalla said in a statement.
A vaccination drive for such a large population, he said, cannot be completed in two or three months.
In a statement, Poonawalla also said that SII had already supplied more than 200 million doses despite receiving Emergency Use Approval two months after the US pharma companies.
“We would like to reiterate that we have never exported vaccines at the cost of the people.. we are working tirelessly with the government,” the statement read.
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