Adar Poonawalla hails PM Modi's assurance of vaccine production at UN

Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer of Serum Institute of India (SII) which is producing a coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by Oxford University, on Sunday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his address at the UN, assuring the world that India will help other nations with its vaccine production capabilities.

We share and applaud your vision @narendramodiji, on providing vaccines to the global community. It is a proud moment for India, thank you for your leadership and support. It is clear that all your arrangements for India will take care of all needs for the Indian people," Poonawalla tweeted.

This comes a day after the SII CEO asked if the government will have Rs 80,000 crore available to buy and distribute the vaccine.

"Quick question; will the government of India have 80,000 crores available, over the next one year? Because that's what @MoHFW_INDIAneeds, to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone in India," he tweeted.

This is the next "challenge" we need to tackle, he said, also tagging the Prime Minister's Office.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged at the United Nations on Saturday that his country's vaccine production capacity would be made available globally to fight the Covid-19 crisis. "As the largest vaccine-producing country of the world, I want to give one more assurance to the global community today," Modi said in a pre-recorded speech to the UN General Assembly. "India's vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis."

Read | PM Modi pledges to use India's vaccine production capacity to help 'all humanity' fight coronavirus

Modi said India was moving ahead with Phase 3 clinical trials - the large-scale trials considered the gold standard for determining safety and efficacy - and would help all countries enhance their cold chain and storage capacities for the delivery of vaccines.

(With inputs from agencies)