The central government has approved an advance of Rs 3,000 crores to the Dr Cyrus Poonawalla-founded and Adar Poonawalla-run (pictured) Serum Institute of India (SII) to ramp up vaccine production. The other major vaccine manufacturer, Bharat Biotech, will receive Rs 1,500 crores, stated news reports on April 20, 2021. Indiatoday.com reported that sources in the finance ministry told them that "in a rarest of rare case, the green signal has been given.” Reportedly, the advances have been issued without the companies needing to provide bank guarantees.
"We have buildings and everything ready in Poona. This would enable us to immediately double the capacity of Covishield,” Adar told the Business Standard (BS) daily of April 7. "This will be a grant, not a loan. We are only asking for the cost of the facility. We are asking for a replacement for the capex — the building, the equipment, etc. We will have to sacrifice one more facility to make Covishield. If Iwant a loan, I can go to a bank and get it. This is an out-of-the-box proposal, which was not needed even three months back. But, since I need to sacrifice one more facility. I need the government’s help here,” he added.
Adar described SII’s facilities as "very stressed,” according to a report in the Mint of April 12.
As manufacturers of Covishield for AstraZeneca (AZ)/Oxford University, SII has other "multiple export contracts to fulfil,” noted the news report. The company needs to reportedly "supply 550 million doses to Covax, a global initiative for the equitable distribution of vaccines among poor countries, and also honor bilateral deals for 900 million doses to various other nations.” "I don’t think anybody would want to be in my position today where every head of state has to be explained that I am prioritizing my country because there is a surge in cases,” Adar told BS. "AstraZeneca has sent us a legal notice (for delays in supplying the vaccine) … We are examining all avenues to amicably manage and resolve legal disputes.”
The Financial Express of April 20 carried on opinion piece from Bloomberg columnist David Fickling stating that judging "by the headlines you would think the most critical immunization issue facing the world is the safety” of some vaccines. "Still it shouldn’t distract from the bigger challenge the world will face over the coming months: the gross unequal distribution of vaccines between rich and poor countries... If we are to protect ourselves against the next health crisis, we first need to reform the rules of global trade.”
Meanwhile, Kolhapur, Maharashtra based farmer’s union Shetkari Sanghatana Sangh has warned the union government to increase the vaccine supply "to the state within a week or the party will stop vehicles transporting vaccines to other states from SII,” stated Mumbai Mirror (April 11). F. J.