COVID: Health Ministry disagrees with SII that Rs 80,000cr needed to vaccinate all Indians

Rebutting the tweet by the Serum Institute of India, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said it disagrees with the mathematics that Rs 80,000 crore is what will be need  to buy and distribute the COVID-19 vaccine to everyone in India. On September 26, Adar Poonawalla, CEO and Owner, Serum Institute of India in his tweet questioned the central government over the availability of Rs 80,000 crore in the coming year for the COVID vaccine.

Responding to Poonawalla's question, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that he will reserve judgement over this tweet, adding that the central government doesn't agree with the mathematics.

"The attention of the Health Ministry was drawn towards a tweet in which this amount is mentioned. The person who tweeted about this amount tweeted again and said that he has full faith in the government while adding that the government has ensured that they have made the arrangements. As far as the mathematics of Rs 80,000 is concerned, we do not agree with it. I will not comment upon it," he added.
 

READ: COVID-19 vaccine: Serum Institute to make additional 100 million 'safe & effective' doses

READ: Pune hospital to resume Oxford-Serum vaccine 'COVISHIELD' Phase-3 trials next week

Serum Institute To Make Additional 100 Million 'safe & Effective' Doses

Meanwhile, Serum Institute of India, on September 29, announced that it would procure up to an additional 100 million COVID-19 vaccines doses for India and other low-and-middle-income countries next year. In a press release, the institute said that it would get a further $150 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the GAVI vaccines alliance to deliver a total of 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines. 

The recent announcement further builds upon an initial agreement signed in August by the company with the GAVI Alliance and the Gates Foundation. The latest collaboration also brings the total of funding provided to Serum Institute of India to $300 million. The company informed that the agreement also provides an option to secure additional doses if the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator sees a need for it. 

READ: Novavax revises COVID-19 vaccine deal with Serum Institute; aims for 2 billion doses

READ: COVID-19 vaccine: Serum Institute gets DCGI nod to resume phase two, three trials