COVID-19 Vaccine: Adar Poonawalla's Serum Institute is the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer.
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, this morning urged nations to "be patient" amid the wait for Covishield, the coronavirus vaccine that the SII has developed in partnership with the Oxford University and British-Swedish pharma firm AstraZeneca.
"Dear countries & governments, as you await #COVISHIELD supplies, I humbly request you to please be patient, @SerumInstIndia has been directed to prioritise the huge needs of India and along with that balance the needs of the rest of the world. We are trying our best (sic)," Mr Poonawalla tweeted this morning.
Covishield is one of the two vaccines cleared by the country's drug regulator DCGI last month apart from Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
Mr Poonawalla, speaking to NDTV, had last month said India get the priority when it comes to the vaccine, adding that the SII supplies "will be going out in the next two-three weeks" to 30 countries". He also stressed that India's supplies will not be at the cost of export.
India has already been exporting coronavirus vaccines to many countries. "Our country has been able to help others at the time of this crisis because we are a self-reliant nation," the Prime Minister had said last month during his monthly radio address - "Mann ki Baat". Earlier this month, PM Modi also assured help to Canada PM Justin Trudeau in this regard.
Even as many nations have stepped up their attempts to vaccinate populations at a faster pace, new strains of the virus - believed to be more infectious - have added a hurdle in the race to end the pandemic.