Serum Institute of India (SII)’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Adar Poonawalla, on July 26, said his company would “keep more than enough” doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for the Parsi community.
Poonawalla was responding to a tweet from entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala, in which the latter had proposed to have a “special quota” for Parsis, albeit on a “lighter note”.
“Yes, @RonnieScrewvala, we will keep more than enough for the community. Our production capacity of just one day will be enough to cover every Parsi on the planet...given the size of our community!” Poonawalla tweeted.
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A community newsletter earlier reported that SII founder Cyrus Poonawalla had agreed to set aside 60,000 doses of the vaccine, still under development, for fellow Parsis. This was following a request from former Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BBP) chairman Dinshaw Rusi Mehta, The Economic Times reported.
“We are a micro minority and every Parsi is required to be saved and healthy..At present, we are only 60,000 in numbers and 40 Parsis have died of Covid,” Mehta reportedly said in a WhatsApp message to Poonawalla.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
It was unclear if Adar Poonawalla’s response to Screwvala was only made in passing.
SII has tied-up with AstraZeneca to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine candidate being developed by Oxford University. The company is planning to manufacture 70 million doses per month initially, subject to regulatory approvals.
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