COVID-19 Vaccine: India will be given first priority for the delivery of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine

By Lokmat English Desk | Published: November 24, 2020 04:15 PM2020-11-24T16:15:41+5:302020-11-24T16:15:41+5:30

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India will be given first priority for the delivery of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine after its British developers claimed success following mass testing, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume said Monday.

The chief executive of the Serum Institute of India, Adar Poonawalla, said the manufacturer has already produced 40 million doses of the vaccine so far.

"By January, we should have, you know, 100 million doses is minimum because we've already made 40 million doses," Poonawalla, whose father founded the vaccine manufacturer, told NDTV.

Poonawalla said he expected that some 90 percent of Serum Institute's doses were to be sold to the Indian government at around 250 rupees (US$3.00).

"Most of that 90 percent is what's going to go to the government of India and maybe 10 percent in the private market at the higher price (of 1,000 rupees)," he said.

"We're hoping for this emergency use licence so that by the end of December, January we can start rolling out some (doses)."

AstraZeneca and Oxford University said Monday that their drug had proved on average 70 percent effective at stopping the virus after trying it on 23,000 people.