Mr Poonawalla defended his call for the vaccination gap to be reduced to six months to ensure people don’t face the pain they faced in the first two waves of the pandemic
Mr Poonawalla defended his call for the vaccination gap to be reduced to six months to ensure people don’t face the pain they faced in the first two waves of the pandemic
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, warned on Friday against returning to the business-as-usual approach, saying we “cannot afford to put a price tag on a citizen’s life” as the pandemic is still raging is not behind us.
The chief executive defended his call for the vaccination gap to be reduced from the current nine months to six months to ensure people are not exposed to the pain they endured in the first two waves of the pandemic and not to make money, how he did it is enough.
“I’ve also offered free vaccines to avoid wastage, which I wouldn’t have done if my goal was money,” he said.
“My point is that we cannot put a price tag on a person’s life, be it an adult or a child. So the need of the hour is to make timely decisions, as we did during the second wave of booster doses and stinging the kids.
“But unfortunately for the key people who are supposed to make decisions on time, the committees who are supposed to meet on time, there doesn’t seem to be any urgency anymore,” Mr Poonawalla said as he addressed the Indian Economic Conclave organized by times network in Bombay.
“The momentum of the past that got us this far has been lost. As you said, things seem to be going as usual for them,” he added.
Mr. Poonawalla noted that his company stopped production as of December 31, 2021 just to avoid waste.
He pointed out that growing vaccine fatigue among the general public was the main reason behind the vaccines’ low take-up, even after the company massively slashed the price from £600 to £225 per dose.
We’re currently sitting at over 200 million vials, he said.
Mr Poonawalla called for an increased roll-out of booster doses, saying it is also necessary because people need to travel inland and abroad and many countries have made booster doses mandatory for travel.
On the need to reduce the gap between two doses from nine months to 6 months, he said globally, many studies have shown that antibody levels decrease as the vaccination gap increases.
About the vaccine for the 7-11 year olds, he said they are awaiting the government nod, which has not yet arrived, although the Covovax vaccine received regulatory approvals a long time ago, and it has also been shipped to Europe and Australia delivered for a long time.
Although the government as a whole recognizes the importance of health care, urgency seems to have been lost, he added.
