Published 19:40 IST, September 29th 2020
COVID: Health Ministry disagrees with SII that Rs 80,000cr needed to vaccinate all Indians
Health Ministry said it disagrees with the SII's mathematics that Rs 80,000 crore will be needed to buy and distribute the vaccine to all in India
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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.
Quick question; will the government of India have 80,000 crores available, over the next one year? Because that's what @MoHFW_INDIA needs, to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone in India. This is the next concerning challenge we need to tackle. @PMOIndia
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) September 26, 2020
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.
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.
Further to our August announcement of delivering 100 million doses with our global partners, we are aiming to produce up to an additional 100 million safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses (total now 200 million doses).
— SerumInstituteIndia (@SerumInstIndia) September 29, 2020
Read more: https://t.co/fyS58H27vU#SII #Latestnews pic.twitter.com/pRDZgyy4HA
19:40 IST, September 29th 2020