Adar Poonawalla Has Put $250 Million Of His Family's Fortune To Produce COVID-19 Vaccine

Stakes are high on Adar Poonawalla¡¯s Serum Institute of India, the world¡¯s largest vaccine producer by volume.

It has already made 40 million doses of Astrazeneca¡¯s potential Covid-19 vaccine and is starting production of a few others. So far, there has been no adverse impact reported during the trials in India. SII has announced the completion of the enrolment of participants in phase 3, which is also the final phase of trial.

Vaccine

In an interview to Washington Post chief executive officer (CEO), Serum Institute of India, Adar Poonawalla has revealed that he has put $250 million of his family¡¯s fortune. Adar has said his father Cyrus Poonawalla, who is known as the vaccine king of India, was one of the early critics who doubted where putting so much money won¡¯t be much of a gamble. ¡°He said: ¡®Look, it¡¯s your money. If you want to blow it up, fine.¡¯¡± Adar Poonawalla recounted his father¡¯s first reaction.

adarpoonawalla.com

In the interview, Adar has also busted two vaccine myths: one, there will be one successful vaccine candidate which will ensure immunity for a definite period of time, two, the world will be immunized in two, three years. He said it won¡¯t be done until 2024, and there will be no one vaccine. The immunity period that a vaccine could assure is still darkness, Adar has said.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Adar decided to go all out. According to his plan, after Covishield (the Oxford vaccine), there will be at least one vaccine every quarter. The Poonawallas have floated a new company as well ¡ª Serum Institute of Life Sciences which will focus on research and development.

Reuters

Sharing a report of Bloomberg which talks about the devastating side-effects of the novel coronavirus, Adar Poonawalla tweeted: "Now there are clear reports of the terrible long-term effects of COVID-19, so don¡¯t feel you can get it once and that will be the end of it. You can get reinfected in a few months, so please continue taking precautions. Read about the long term effects here."

Now there are clear reports of the terrible long-term effects of COVID19, so don¡¯t feel you can get it once and that will be the end of it. You can get reinfected in a few months, so please continue taking precautions. Read about the long term effects here https://t.co/PgwohNLmCM

¡ª Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) November 10, 2020

Recently, a top ICMR official had said that one may get reinfected with the coronavirus if the antibodies against the infection diminish in the body in five months¡¯ time after recovery. Several other global studies have shown that the antibodies also decline rapidly in an individual infected with COVID-19.