The Serum Institute of India (SII) chief Adar Poonawalla on Tuesday, May 18, said that the company has "never exported vaccines at the cost of Indians."
He reiterated that the company has never exported vaccines at the cost of the people of India. "We remain committed to doing everything we can in the support of the vaccination drive in the country," the SII statement said, reported Livemint.
In January 2021, the company had said it had a large stockpile of vaccine doses. It also said that the vaccination drive in the country can't be completed in two or three months given the huge population.
Poonawalla said his company would continue to scale up its production of AstraZeneca's vaccine and start exporting to other countries by the end of the year.
"We must also understand that this pandemic is not limited by geographic or political boundaries," the SII statement read.
The world's biggest manufacturer of Covishield responded by saying that it hoped to restart deliveries to COVAX and other countries by the end of this year.
The company has also delivered over 200 million doses, even though they received EUA two months after the US pharma firms. India ranks amongst the top three in the world when looked at total doses produced and delivered, the SII said.
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