Serum Institute of India 'Believe Rs 3,000 cr govt aid will reach us soon, didn't wait but borrowed': SII CEO Adar Poonawalla
Mumbai/IBNS: Serum Institute of India (SII) has borrowed money from banks to ramp up the production of Covishield instead of waiting for the government's aid of Rs 3,000 crore to arrive.
SII which is manufacturing Covishied, developed by Oxford University and Swedish drug giant AstraZeneca, in India has been given Rs 3,000 crore as 100 per cent advance till July, reported NDTV citing senior sources in the Finance Ministry.
A similar advance of Rs 1,500 crore has been given to Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, the producer of indegenous Covaxin, the report added.
"The Rs 3,000 crore amount we keep seeing in the media has been sanctioned. We believe it will come to us very soon. We have not waited but borrowed from the banks to get on with the ramp-up, with the assumption that this funding from the government will reach us very soon...this week," Adar Poonawalla told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
The Central government has extended the vaccination net to cover all above 18 years of age from May 1 as coronavirus cases rose exponentially in the last few months.
The new vaccination policy will increase the demand by nearly two million doses a month.
Poonawalla said he expects to be able to provide 100 million doses per month after July, reported NDTV.
In order to deal with the surge in Covid-19 cases, the Centre has paused export of vaccines under the "Vaccine Maitri" programme.
This situation will continue at least till July, Poonawalla said.
"There is no clarity on exports and we also right now feel that we should not look at exports for two months during these cases. Maybe in June-July, we could start looking at small exports starting again. Right now, we are going to prioritise the needs of the nation first," he said.
Ponawalla had also urged US President Joe Biden in a tweet to lift the ban on raw materials to produce vaccines in India.
"The US government responded through the media. We've seen reports of them saying they acknowledge and understand the issue. They are looking into it but (there is) no opening up as yet for the raw materials that they know very well exactly that are required...," he said.
He said that the embargo imposed by the US will not impact prices of Covishield in India but would affect the cost of Covovax, a vaccine which should be in the Indian market in the next three months. "No, this will not affect our price because we can find alternative suppliers to the US, but that is just taking more time. And that will affect the stockpiling of Covovax, not Covishield, luckily," he said.
On Wednesday, SII said in a statement that it would sell Covishield to state governments at Rs 400 and to private hospitals at s 600. However, it will continue to sell the vaccine to the Central government at Rs 150.
As per the new policy, the states can now buy coronavirus vaccine doses directly from manufacturers in the "liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination", the Centre has said.
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