Serum Institute of India will produce up to 200 million vaccines to enable poorer nations to combat COVID-19, including India, as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and GAVI ramp up their financial support, SII announced on Tuesday.
The additional money will help SII – the biggest vaccine maker in the world in terms of volume – accelerate the production of experimental treatments of Novavax and AstraZeneca under the COVAX program as early as June next year.
According to Serum Institute of India chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla, the partnership "further strengthens our fight against COVID-19 through the strong support of Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," Asianet News quoted the CEO as saying.
In a statement, GAVI said that the collaboration will provide an option to secure more vaccines many times the 200-million dose total, if required, pointing out that the treatment will be sold at a maximum of $3 per shot once it becomes widely available.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will release an additional $150 million in funds to GAVI, bringing the total funding extended through the partnership to $300 million.
GAVI, which is currently raising around $2 billion in preliminary funding, hopes to secure at least a portion of the cost of acquiring the doses. The company's board has sealed a deal with 92 nations for the provision of Novavax and AstraZeneca's potential treatments.
The so-called COVAX Plan, in tandem with the World Health Organization and GAVI, targets to roll out around 2 billion COVID doses globally by end of next year. Over 150 countries have so far taken part in the undertaking, although the U.S., Russia, and China yet to signify their intention to participate.
India, which has the highest number of new COVID infections, saw its caseload increase to more than 6 million this week. The world's fatality figures from the virus exceeded the 1 million mark as of Tuesday, Reuters reported.
