Our Bureau London
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, who is one of the largest vaccine producer of the country has warned that India may face shortage of vaccine for next few months till July.
The statement was issued by him during an interview to Financial times. He said that the capacity which is around 60 to 70 million a month can only be increased till 100 million by July.
Poonwalla also said that the authorities in India had not thought of second wave in the country. The government here had given 3000 crores in advance last month only for facilitating the expansion of the capacity.
Serum institute (SII) which caters to the 90% need of the India is among the largest vaccine producer in the world. Earlier, the center government had brought its entire production but few days back it was allowed to sell the vaccine to private hospitals and state governments too.
The government has announced to vaccinate everyone who is above 18+ from May 1 onwards but many states had flagged the shortage of the vaccine.
In survey it was revealed that India has given vaccination to only 12% of its population as of now and only 2% have got twice.
The vaccination drive had begun from January 16 this year and government had initially ordered 21 million vaccinations to SII.
Poonwalla, who is in London at present, in one of his tweet had stated that the vaccination production was in full swing in Pune and he soon will review the operations after reaching India.
