Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event at Bharti Vidyapeeth University, Poonawalla, when asked about states and districts not getting Covishield vaccines, said there are ample stocks with the Union government for supply.
SII Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said booster vaccines have no demand as there is general lethargy among people and also because they are fed up with the pandemic.
Pune news: The fraudsters duped the SII in the name of the institute's CEO Adar Poonawalla. The incident came to light only after a hefty amount of Rs 1.1 crore was transferred by one of the directors, Satish Deshpande.
Elon Musk, who has made a successful USD 44 billion acquisition bid for Twitter, had in the past asked India to reduce import duties to sell Tesla electric cars but the government has insisted on local manufacturing.
On the need for vaccinating kids in the 5-11 age bracket, he said, "My point is we can't put a price tag on the life of a person. Also if an additional dose of vaccine can prevent a 1,000 hospitalisation, so let's do that as was evident from the third wave."
SII CEO Adar Poonawalla also welcomed the government’s move to allow precaution dose of the vaccine to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres, saying it will further provide long-term protection against the virus, and aid ease of travel.
Covishield has been one of the main Covid-19 vaccines used in India for inoculation. Around 90% population have got Covishield.
The DCGI office had granted SII permission to manufacture and stock Covovax on May 17.
Speaking about the Omicron variant, Poonawalla said, "On the back of enough data, it is safe to say that booster vaccine doses are a proven strategy to get antibodies up to a great extent".
The government and drug controller's office will have to take a decision on the third booster dose based on data and cases as time goes on and including how effective the vaccine is on the Delta virus variant, Poonawalla added.
India shows its might yet again. PM Modi, Mamata Banerjee and Adar Poonawalla have been ranked among Time Magazine's top 100 influential people in the world.
The daily COVID-19 vaccinations crossed the 1 crore mark on Tuesday for the second time in five days, taking the total number of doses administered in the country to over 65 crore.
The government thinks that this move is feasible now because there are many vaccines available for the people, apart from Covishield and Covaxin, and also because there is a sufficient amount of vaccines available in the country.
He also thanked the government for all the support provided to Serum Institute and said the company is always trying to expand its Covishield production capacity to meet the demand.
The meeting was held to discuss the Covishield supply and to ramp up the production in India. Minister Mandaviya assured the government's support in Covishield production.
Adar Poonawalla, CEO-Owner of the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), is expected to meet Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Delhi on Friday.
Serum Institute of India CEO and owner Adar Poonawalla on Thursday said that he has set aside Rs 10 crore to support students travelling abroad for studies, as a few countries are yet to approve Covishield as an acceptable vaccine for entry without quarantine.
The issue of the acceptance of the Covishield vaccine as proof of immunisation for travel to the EU Member States has been widely discussed recently, after several countries in the block have refused to recognise the vaccine.
We are quite confident that in a month EMA will approve Covishield. There is no reason why not to, because it is based on AstraZeneca data and our product is identical to AstraZeneca more or less and it has been approved by WHO, UK MHRA, Adar Poonawalla said.
Covishield is the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India by the Pune-based vaccine maker.
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