Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases in China, the Serum Institute of India is planning to sell its two key vaccines – Covishield and Covovax.
“It is very important for the world to get back to its supply chain issues and investment… (so) it is better for the world that China recovers from this,” said SII chief Adar Poonawalla.
“We are trying to engage with China and telling them to set aside political differences, issues and apprehensions and take some of the western vaccines as a booster,” said Poonawalla.
When questioned about China’s response he said, “I think they are deciding which way they want to go… I just hope they decide one way or another quickly”.
On the ongoing Covid outbreak in China, the Chief of Centre’s panel NK Arora said,
“In China they have not been exposed to the virus before, and the vaccine they got is probably less effective. Most of them received three to four doses”.
Covovax is proven to work well against Omicron and his two or three times better than Covishield, said Mr Poonawalla.
The SII Chief also said that the new vaccine will cost between ₹200-300 and will be available soon on Centre’s CoWin app.
SII has even submitted data to the World Health Organization about its malaria vaccine. He said that the vaccine has been proven effective in more than 77% cases and that they are planning to roll it out all across Africa.
He further said that the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world is also working on vaccine for dengue which is in its phase 2-3 clinical trials. The vaccine is said to be effective in three doses and will be available in two years, he said.
