Serum Institute To Accord First Priority To India For AstraZeneca/Oxford Vaccine’s Delivery: Adar Poonawalla

In a positive development in the nation's fight to put an end tp the COVID-19 pandemic's spread, Pune based Serum Institute of India (SII)'s chief executive Adar Poonawalla has said that the company will give India priority for the delivery of the Covidshield vaccine developed by pharmaceutical major and AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, reports Livemint.

Poonawalla also shared that he expected about 90 per cent of all the doses produced by it to be sold to the Government of India for around Rs 250 per piece (about $3). Meanwhile, the remaining ten per cent of the vaccines may be sold in the private market at a higher price of Rs 1,000.

Also, SII, the world's largest maker of vaccines has already produced more than 40 million doses of Covidshield and is aiming to build a stockpile of minimum 10 million doses by January.

Poonawalla also shared that the company is hoping for the emergency use license to roll out some doses of Covidshield by the end of December or January.

Meanwhile, it should also be noted that Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi is expected to hold a meeting with State leaders on today (24 November) to discuss the distribution of the vaccine.