Indian Govt Will Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine For Free: Adar Poonawalla

Coronavirus pandemic is showing no sign of stopping with cases crossing 15 million worldwide, and everyone is waiting anxiously for the vaccine. Amidst the glooming situation, Oxford University has shown a silver lining in the dark cloud by publishing the data of the successful human trial of its vaccine.

Serum Institute of India, one of the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturers, has partnered with Oxford University to manufacture the Covid-19 vaccine if it gets approved.

50% Vaccines For India, Remaining For Rest Of The World

In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the Serum Institute of India, has said that his company will offer 50% of the manufactured vaccines to India and remaining to the rest of the world.

Mr. Poonawalla said that the firm wants to conduct phase 3 of human trials of the Oxford University vaccine in India. Therefore, it’s seeking regulatory clearances from the concerned authorities. The company has already started manufacturing the Oxford Coronavirus vaccine.

“We have said that we want to give half of our (vaccine) production to India and the other half to other countries on a pro-rata basis every month. The government has been supportive. We need to understand that this is a global crisis and people across the world need to be protected. It’s important that we equally immunise the entire world,” said Mr. Poonawalla.

Indian Govt. Will Distribute Vaccines For Free Under Immunisation Programme

Speaking about the cost of the Coronavirus vaccine, he said that they are yet to determine the exact cost of the vaccine as it is still at the early testing stage. According to him, the government will purchase the vaccine from companies and then distribute it for free under an immunization program. The CEO said the company doesn’t want to make any profit at the time of the pandemic.

Mr. Poonawalla said, “Of course it will be given out at a very affordable price. Today, a Covid-19 test incurs Rs 2,500. There are drugs like Remdesiver that are costing tens and thousands of rupees. We are planning to put the price at around Rs 1,000 or less than that per dose. I don’t think any individual will have to pay for it because the vaccines will mostly be bought by governments and then distributed free through the immunisation programmes.”

He also mentioned that his company will offer the vaccine at $2-3 for African countries.

You can watch the complete interview here.