‘I humbly request you…’: Vaccine giant Adar Poonawala writes to Joe Biden

Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla on Friday made a “request” to US President Joe Biden to lift the embargo on export of raw materials needed for the production of the Covishield coronavirus shots.

He tweeted:

The desperate tweet by the head of the world’s largest vaccine maker underlined the crisis in providing vaccines to developing nations, many of which rely heavily on the firm for supplies.

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Adarsh Poonawala’s SII is struggling to meet the demand for the AstraZeneca jab, which it manufactures, after India halted exports of the vaccine after a massive second COVID wave in the country.

India continued to report new peaks in daily COVID-19 cases with a record 2.17 lakh fresh infections added to the caseload on Friday.

The company’s production of a jab developed by US firm Novavax has also hit roadblocks due to the US restrictions, with Poonawalla telling an Indian newspaper last week that the embargo was “as good as banning vaccines”.

The vaccines that were developed in record time are already in use around the world. Huge demands from across the world triggered an exponential increase in production, meaning raw materials are now running short.

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SII, which struck a deal to supply 200 million doses to Covax, a World Health Organization-backed effort to procure and distribute inoculations to poor countries, has seen its profile soar since the pandemic, with rich nations also clamouring to buy its jab.But the Covax programme has been hampered by wealthy nations hogging the supply.

SII has recorded annual revenues of more than $800 million in 2019-20, but the export ban has prompted it to ask India’s government for financial help since New Delhi pays it less per shot than it earns from overseas sales.

Poonawalla, in an interview to a news channel last week, had admitted that existing production capacities at his Pune plant are “very stressed” and that he wants to increase the production to around 100 million per month from the current 60 million. He, however, said that the same will require significant investment and time and uninterrupted supply of raw materials.

To circumvent potential supply issues and to meet the growing demand, India has now approved a third drug – Russia’s Sputnik V, first batch of which will be delivered to India later this month.

India, which has recorded over 14 million infections since the start of the pandemic, began vaccinating people aged over 45 this month. So far it has administered around 117 million shots and aims to inoculate 300 million people by August.

India, which has recorded over 14 million infections since the start of the pandemic, began vaccinating people aged over 45 this month, aiming to inoculate 300 million people by August. So far it has administered around 117 million shots.