Produced over 30 crore Covid vaccine doses, says Adar Poonawalla as company completes 55 years

Adar Poonawalla says affordability has always remained a key focus of Serum Institute of India's vaccines.

Pune's Serum Institute of India completed 55 years on June 12 and CEO Adar Poonawalla shared a photo of father Cyrus Poonawalla laying the foundation stone of the company on June 12, 1966. In its 55 years of existence, the company has supplied billions of doses of vaccines to 171 countries and saved countless lives. "It is with this ethos in mind we have produced over 300 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to date," Poonawalla wrote. Ensuring affordability has always been Serum Institute of India's focus, Poonawalla said. The price of one Covishield dose at private hospitals in India has been capped at ₹780.

Adar Poonawalla posts his father Cyrus Poonawalla's photo on Twitter as Serum Institute of India completes 55 years. (REUTERS)

"Cyrus Poonawalla with his father, Soli Poonawalla, and mother, Gool Poonawalla at the foundation stone ceremony on June 12, 1966, at 212, Hadapsar, Serum Institute of India," the caption in one of the photos read.

The Pune-based vaccine maker has one of the key components of India's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, as the company tied up with AstraZeneca to mass-produce its vaccine, developed in association with Oxford University, called Covishield in India. Apart from catering to India's demand, Serum is the top supplier of vaccines to COVAX, the vaccine alliance of the World Health Organization.

While the pandemic has shot the company and its CEO Adar Poonawalla to the global spotlight, Serum has been supplying measles and polio vaccines. Adar Poonawalla has been in the centre of a controversy after he claimed that he was under immense pressure to deliver Covid vaccines and received threatening calls from powerful people. The Centre has also accorded Y category security to Poonawalla.