SERUM INSTITUTE OF INDIA ASSURES ‘INDIA WILL GET COVID-19 VACCINE IN DECEMBER’: REVEALS PRICE AND OTHER DETAILS!

The Serum Institute of India announced its partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in order to manufacture the COVID-19 Vaccine. Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India has now announced that the vaccine will be available by December this year.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Poonawalla ascertained that the company will launch the vaccine to fight against the novel coronavirus by December 2020. "We are going to start trials in less than two weeks. The trial is in partnership with ICMR. We will start manufacturing vaccines by the end of August," he said.

The company is also aiming at manufacturing and distributing up to 100 million doses of the vaccine for the India and the other low-and middle-income countries. When asked about the price of the vaccine, he said, "$3 is a special price because of the funding we received. Pricing of the vaccine will be slightly higher once licenses are in place. Final pricing for the vaccine will be announced in two months."

If the company manages to attain full licence and WHO Prequalification, the funding will support at-risk manufacturing by SII from AstraZeneca and Novavax. Currently, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, via its Strategic Investment Fund, will provide at-risk funding of $150 million to Gavi.