After the Executive Director of the Serum Institute of India (SII) said the government started vaccinating people without considering the availability of vaccines or World Health Organisation’s guidelines, SII issued a statement disassociating themselves from his remarks.
On 21 May, Suresh Jadhav had said, as per PTI, “Initially, 300 million people were to be administered the vaccine for which 600 million doses were required. But before we reached the target, the government opened vaccination for all above 45 years followed by those aged 18 and above despite knowing well that so much vaccine is not available.”
Jadhav was speaking at an E-Summit held by Heal Health, a health awareness platform.
Disassociating themselves from Jadhav’s comments, SII said he was not authorised to speak on these issues.
“He isn’t authorised to speak on these issues, only the official spokesperson of the company is allowed to speak,” Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla told ANI.
Prakash Kumar Singh, Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at SII, clarified that Jadav’s statement is not the view of the company, sources told The Indian Express.
“On behalf of our CEO Adar C Poonawalla, I want to inform you that this statement is not issued on behalf of SIIPL (Serum Institute of India Private Limited) and the Company completely dissociates itself from this statement. It is reiterated that, this is not the view of the company at all. SIIPL is committed to maximise its Covishield production and it stands shoulder to shoulder to strengthen the government’s fight against COVID-19,” he said.
(With inputs from ANI, The Indian Express)
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