Poonawalla thanks PM Modi for support as Serum confirms Covidshield vaccine emergency use

New Delhi, Dec 07: After Serum Institute India (SII) applied for the emergency use authorisation of its coronavirus vaccine Covidshield, its CEO Adar Poonawala expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government for the support.

Taking to Twitter, SII's Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla informed that the company has applied for emergency use authorization for Covidshield.

Stating that this vaccine will save many lives, SII's CEO also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As promised, before the end of 2020, Serum Institute of India has applied for emergency use authorisation for the first made-in-India vaccine, COVISHIELD. This will save countless lives, and I thank the Government of India and PM Narendra Modi for their invaluable support," tweeted Poonawalla.

The SII is the first indigenous company that has sought emergency approval for the vaccine developed along with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

A day earlier, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer became the first to seek a similar approval from India's drug regulator for its own Covid-19 vaccine in the country, after securing such clearance in the UK and Bahrain.

The phase-three clinical trial of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, is being conducted by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), co-sponsored by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in various parts of the country in addition to clinical studies being carried out by Oxford-AstraZeneca in the UK and Brazil.

Poonawalla said the SII has already produced 40-50 million doses of the vaccine per month, and the pharma giant is planning to stretch it up to 100 million doses of the vaccine per month by February.

The CEO had also said that indications suggest that the Central government may purchase 300-400 million doses by July 2021.