SII chief Adar Poonawalla: India will face a vaccine shortage till July 2021.

Adhar Poonawalla has warned that India will face a vaccine shortage until July due to a lack of planning and fewer orders being placed.

India began its inoculation drive against COVID-19 in January 2021. The two main vaccines used are Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech. As the number of cases spiked, the government expanded the vaccination drive to include all above 18 years. However, the progress is very slow as only about 26 million people are fully vaccinated to date.

CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), Adar Poonawalla, recently in an exclusive interview with the Financial Times, said that the shortage of vaccines would persist through July as the production capacity will only increase from about 60 million doses a month to 100 million. He reasoned that the shortage of vaccines was due to improper planning by the authorities as they failed to gauge the breakout as the cases declined in January. He further said that his firm did not boost the supply earlier as there were no enough orders.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.

Reference links

The Indian Express

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Washington Post

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World Health Organization

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