Adar Poonawalla: ‘Billions need to be vaccinated at a faster rate for Covid pandemic to end’

Adar Poonawalla also made a strong case for setting up a centralised regulatory body for vaccine certificates to make travel and movement convenient.

At a vaccination camp for children in Mumbai. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)

In order to reach the end of the pandemic, billions of people need to be vaccinated at a faster pace, Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Serum Institute of India (SII), said on Tuesday. “The Covid vaccine supply is no longer a constraint… and we are in a much better place than last year to meet the demands,” Poonawalla added.

He also called for establishment of a clear standard for vaccine trials and harmonised framework for vaccine approval and distribution. Poonawalla was a panelist at a session on ‘Meeting the Challenge of Vaccine Equity’ organised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Tuesday.

All governments should come together for agreements on export restrictions that can help deal better with pandemics, Poonawalla said.

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He also made a strong case for setting up a centralised regulatory body for vaccine certificates to make travel and movement convenient. Poonawalla admitted that his SII, which is manufacturing Covishield, had to curtail production last year but “in the first quarter or so, the vaccine maker could supply over a billion doses through Covax to the African continent”.

Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO health emergencies programme, said that vaccines had a crucial role to play. “There is no way to end this pandemic without vaccines,” he said.

The panelists said rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines was a scientific achievement even as they agreed that failure to ensure universal global distribution risks not only bad health outcomes but also economic upheaval and geopolitical tensions.

The panelists included Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director, Oxfam International; Seth F Berkley Chief Executive Officer, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; and John Nikengasong, director, Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

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