Serum Institute risks making Covid vaccine before trial at new $100 mn unit

AstraZeneca deal with SII is for supply of a billion doses, with a commitment to provide 400 mn before 2020-end. If all goes well, India could have its first set of Covid-19 vaccines by end of year

Serum Institute of India (SII), which has entered into a partnership with British drugmaker AstraZeneca to supply one billion doses of University of Oxford's potentizal Covid-19 vaccines to low and middle-income countries, is ready with the vaccine facility and will start making a few million doses even before the clinical trials get over, a top company executive said on Friday.

“Oxford vaccines will be made and packaged here in India. We are spending more than $100 million for this facility,” said Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India.