SII Plans To Begin Vaccine Production Outside India, Says Adar Poonawala

New Delhi: The Serum Institute of India (SII), manufacturer of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, is planning to start vaccine production in other countries as it struggles to meet supply commitments, its chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla, told The Times, said an NDTV report.

“There’s going to be an announcement in the next few days,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper in an interview published on Friday.

Earlier last week, he had said that SII would be able to raise its monthly output to 100 million doses by July, as opposed to the previous timeline of May end.

He hoped to increase the Serum Institute’s production capacity from 2.5 billion to 3 billion doses a year within six months, the Times reported, adding that he flew to London before Britain banned travellers from India eight days ago.