Adar Poonawalla CEO of The Serum Institute and makers of the Covishield vaccine told in an interview, they need around ₹ 3,000 crores to scale up production, as a second Covid wave sweeps through India and the center faces urgent calls to make more and more doses of the vaccine available.
In the interview, Mr. Adar Poonawalla said "We are supplying the vaccine in the Indian market at approximately ₹ 150-160. The average price of the vaccine is approximately $20 (Rs 1,500)... because of the Modi government's request, we are providing vaccines at subsidized rates... It is not that we are not making profits... but we are not making a super profit, which is key to re-investing, This (the amount needed) would be roughly ₹ 3,000 crores. The process takes 85 days, so it would be just under three months before we scale up operations".
"We are supplying two million doses per day... between 60 and 65 million per month. And have given, so far, over 100 million doses to the government," he said, explaining he eventually hoped to produce around 110 million doses of Covishield, of which the SII has no stockpiles, per month.But, he said, India's vaccine needs could only be met if others also stepped up production.
"That's where we are at the moment," he explained.
Mr. Poonawalla also said that it was difficult to explain to foreign governments - with many of whom the SII has contracts - that India had first claim to the vaccines.
India has administered around 8.3 crore vaccine doses since the drive began on January 16.The center has said the pace of the rollout is second only to the United States - 79.11 million have been vaccinated in 79 days (as of April 4) compared to 165.05 million in 112 days by the US.
However, the alarming rate at which new cases are being reported every day means the vaccination effort has to be significantly faster to stop the virus from spreading.
The Chief Ministers of Delhi, Maharashtra, and Punjab, as well as the Indian Medical Association, have all asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow more people to be vaccinated.
At present, only those over 45, and healthcare and frontline workers, are eligible to get the shot.The center today rejected calls to allow more people to get vaccinated, saying the focus had to be on vaccinating those who needed it and not on those who wanted the shot.
