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Photo report by Chief International Correspondent John Irvine
The CEO of the world’s leading vaccine company says he believes the UK will be among the first countries to receive the new vaccine Corona Virus jab.
Adar Poonawalla Serum Institute India Commit to producing 1 billion doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine once they pass the necessary safety tests.
Speaking to ITV News, he said his company is ready and ready to take the vaccine off the production line and get it into the arms of the world once the necessary approvals are given.
“It’s the Indians who will get it first, at least from what I make, and AstraZeneca will produce it for the UK,” he said.
“So if you talk about a global perspective, the UK will probably understand that first. Then you will have some other country maybe in Europe at the same time after that whatever AstraZeneca’s plan is there.”
“And then you have India, once we start getting it, once we get the emergency use license, we’ll give it to India and then start introducing it to African countries.”
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India is ready to produce 400 million vaccine doses by the end of July, says the CEO of the vaccine
The Oxford vaccine has the added advantage of being able to be stored at fridge temperature and is low in cost compared to some of its other competitors, making it a viable option in the most deprived areas of the world.
This means, Bonawala says, it could be “a vaccine of the world”.
“It protects the elderly, gives you a good T-cell response, and there have been no admissions to hospital,” he said.
“It’s very affordable because we make it so this is the added bonus. So I got five or six of these perks and bonuses, so it’s the most universal.
“It is possibly the most widely used vaccine globally.”
Logistical concerns have been raised about distributing vaccines within India, but Mr. Poonawala believes the necessary infrastructure is in place to ensure that up to 400 million doses of the production line can be transported to various regions across the country by the end of July.
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The world’s leading vaccine producer plays an important role
“We depend mainly on government infrastructure, which is there to a large extent,” said Mr. Bunawala.“And they are accustomed to handling in any way from 5 to 600 million doses of vaccines on an annual basis.”He added, “We will try in other private companies, whether they are hospitals or other cultural logistics companies, to be able to distribute the transport and store these vaccines.” He said the initial plan was to produce 400 million doses by July 2021, which is “very easy”.
The 39-year-old CEO joined his father’s business in 2001. The Poonawalla family inherited the land in Pune, India, but it has been one of the largest vaccine companies in the world since its founding in 1966.
The world has become so dependent on their vaccines, ITV News correspondent John Irvine described Mr. Poonawall as “the Henry Ford of vaccines”.
“I’m not going to go that far,” Mr. Bunawala said.
“We just tried to do our best and I know it all looks like this at the moment. It’s overwhelming, and I truly humble it, with the encouragement, encouragement, love and support that everyone has given us.
“I just hope that I can now fulfill all these big promises that we made, you know, so I think that’s what we are looking forward to in 2021,” she says, “It’s a big responsibility everyone at the serum institute has. And I really hope we can achieve Expectations. “
