Won’t Be Enough Covid-19 Vaccines Till 2024: Adar Poonawalla

Bhubaneswar/New-Delhi : Serum Institute of India’s CEO Adar Poonawalla has warned there won’t be enough Covid-19 vaccines available in the world till 2024 end.

“It  will take at least four years to make enough Covid-19 vaccines for the entire world and the world will need 15 billion doses of vaccine if it is taken in two steps”, Poonawalla told the Financial Times.

The Pune-based pharma firm has partnered with five international pharmaceutical firms, including AstraZeneca and Novavax, to develop a Covid-19 vaccine and committed to producing one billion doses.

Serum Institute of India’s vaccine trials were paused after AstraZeneca, a Britain-based pharma company involved in the development of a vaccine, also paused its trials flagging a potential risk. However, the British drugmaker’s resumed clinical trials this week.

As part of its agreement with AstraZeneca, the company aims to produce vaccine doses that cost around $3 for 68 countries. The company is also collaborating with Novavax to provide vaccine doses for 92 countries.

SII (Serum Institute of India’s) may also partner with Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute to manufacture the Sputnik V vaccine.