Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on April 16 requested United States President Joe Biden to lift the embargo on export of raw materials to help other countries ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production.
Poonawalla tweeted: “Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administration has the details.”
His tweet comes following Oxford-AstraZeneca’s legal notice to the Serum Institute, which manufactures Covishield – one of the coronavirus vaccines being administered in India.
Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administration has the details.— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) April 16, 2021
Poonawalla had said earlier that SII would need around Rs 3,000 crore to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production capacity.
The vaccine maker hopes to increase its capacity of Covishield production to 110 million doses per month June onwards.
SII has already delivered over 100 million doses to India and exported around 60 million doses to other countries.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more details
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