The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, on Sunday got emergency use authorisation for Covishield from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
Minutes after the approval SII CEO Adar Poonawalla tweeted that all the risks have been paid off.
"Happy new year, everyone! All the risks @SerumInstIndia took with stockpiling the vaccine, have finally paid off. Covishield, India's first Covid-19 vaccine is approved, safe, effective and ready to roll-out in the coming weeks," Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla tweeted,” Poonawalla tweeted.
Replying to Poonawalla’s tweet, business tycoon Anand Mahindra said that risk-taking was a fundamental characteristic of the business.
“Risk-taking is a fundamental characteristic of the business. A bet can go either way but when it succeeds it’s hugely rewarding. Adar Poonawalla took a huge risk in creating capacity. But his bet was not just about financial rewards. It will help save millions of lives. A salute,” Mahindra tweeted.
On the other hand, DCGI’s move to approve another vaccine ‘Covaxin’ developed by Bharat Biotech has been criticised because its clinical trials began recently.
Meanwhile, daily new Covid-19 cases in the country remained below 20,000 for the third consecutive day on Monday taking the virus caseload to 1,03,40,469, according to the Union Health Ministry.