'Does govt have Rs 80,000 cr for covid vaccine'
September 26, 2020  17:10
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Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the Serum Institute of India - the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume and which is conducting Covid vaccine trials ahead of mass production - took to Twitter today to highlight potential challenges ahead of vaccine production and distribution in the country.

"Quick question: will the Government of India have 80,000 crores available over the next one year? Because that is what the Ministry of Health needs to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone in India. This is the next concerning challenge we need to tackle," Poonawalla said.

"I ask this question, because we need to plan and guide, vaccine manufacturers both in India and overseas to service the needs of our country in terms of procurement and distribution," he added.

Covishield - the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca and being tested by the SII in India - is currently in Phase 2 and Phase 3 human trials.

India's rush to develop Covid vaccines is understandable - the country has recorded over 80,000 new cases every day for the past few weeks and has over 9.6 lakh active cases (only the United States has more).
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