Poonawalla spoke after a visit to the plant by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government wants 300-400 million doses by July next year as the country battles a new surge in the pandemic. India, the second worst hit country after the United States, is expected to pass 10 million cases in early December. Poonawalla said the institute was already producing 50-60 million doses a month and after January-February that will be scaled up to 100 million doses per month. Serum Institute will concentrate first on production for India and the 150-plus countries in the Covax alliance that have agreed to work together on distributing the vaccine. Poonawalla urged caution about reporting on pandemic vaccines so that the public is not put off from using them.

Source: Dhaka Tribune November 28, 2020 17:26 UTC