Adar Poonawalla , the chief executive officer of Serum Institute of India, on Tuesday said that his company’s existing capacity to manufact...
Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive officer of Serum Institute of India, on Tuesday said that his company’s existing capacity to manufacture coronavirus vaccine Covishield was “very stressed” and it required Rs 3,000 crore to increase production by June, NDTV reported.
In an interview to the news channel, Poonawalla said that the Serum Institute was prioritising the vaccine needs of India but was still short of being able to supply the doses to every citizen.
Poonawalla told NDTV that his company presently manufactured 60 to 65 million doses (6 crore to 6.5 crore) of the vaccine every month. He added that Serum Institute has so far exported 60 million doses of the vaccine and supplied 100 million (10 crore) to the Centre.
The Serum Institute chief added that his company was not making “super profits” because it was supplying the vaccine at discounted rates in India
“We’re supplying [the vaccine] in India at approximately Rs 150-160 [per dose],” he told NDTV. “The average price is around $20 [Rs 1,470 approximately], but because of the [Narendra] Modi government’s request, we are providing at subsidised rates.” The shortfall of Rs 3,000 crore has been linked to...
