SII makes available vaccines at price of 'cup of tea' to poor nations, says Poonawalla

Pune, February 14

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Serum Institute of India chairman Cyrus Poonawalla on Monday said that poor nations of the world are using the vaccines made by the company as the doses have been made available at a price of a “cup of tea”.

Poonawalla was speaking at the Pune International Business Summit, organised by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), where he was felicitated for receiving the Padma Bhushan Award.

He said that two-thirds of the world population has been protected by one or more of SII’s vaccines.

“Most of our vaccines have been used by poorer nations. UNICEF and other philanthropic organizations came forward to buy vaccine which I provided along with the help of my staff and scientists to make it affordable at a price of a cup of tea and this has made the world self-sufficient for most of the communicable vaccines required to protect children and adults,” he said.

He said that the main crux of the matter is that the same templet that is low cost, high production, was applied to make 90 per cent of India’s requirement of COVID vaccine.

“All over the world, they are surprised that how a company in India has been able to provide vaccines to protect the rest of the countries. Not just Africa, I must stress that 170 countries worldwide use SII vaccines,” he added.

“Experts from all over the world have estimated that around 30 million children’s lives were saved because we had provided the affordable vaccines,” he said.