New Delhi – Five people died in a fire that broke out in the large complex of the Serum Institute of India, one of the largest vaccine manufacturing facilities in the world that currently produces millions of doses of the oxide vaccine / AstraZeneca COVID- 19.
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The fire broke out Thursday afternoon in a building still under construction on the 100-acre site in the southwestern city of Pune. It was checked Thursday evening, but at least two of the upper floors of the five-story building were gutted.
“Today is an extremely painful day for everyone at the Serum Institute of India. Unfortunately, there were casualties in the fire that broke out,” said Adar Poonawalla, CEO and owner of the Serum Institute of India. India. He said the families of the victims would be offered “compensation” of about $ 34,000 each, in addition to any mandatory payments.
Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol confirmed that five people had died. Their bodies were recovered from the charred floors of the building.
Earlier in the day Poonawalla dit the production of the coronavirus vaccine, produced in India under the brand name Covishield, would not be affected by the fire.
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Police and firefighters said the fire would be investigated. The cause is not immediately clarified.
The Serum Institute began shipping hundreds of thousands of doses of Covishield last week. He says it should produce 100 million doses in March.
India on Saturday launched what has been described as the world’s largest mass vaccination campaign. The government plans to vaccinate 300 million people in July. Along with the Covishield traits, India will also use Covaxin, a domestic vaccine produced by Bharat Biotech.
The Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume, producing 1.5 billion annual doses of drugs to fight various diseases such as polio, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, measles , mules and rubella. Its products are exported to more than 170 countries.
Several middle- and low-income countries rely on the Serum Institute to supply their coronavirus vaccine stocks worldwide, COVAX Plan, supported by the World Health Organization. The project, aimed at ensuring a fair distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide, has secured an order for 200 million doses at the serum facilities.
Bangladesh, Nepal and several Central African and Asian countries await their first shipments from Covishield in the coming weeks.
India on Wednesday exported the first batches of the vaccine formulated in Oxford from the serum to Bhutan and the Maldives.
The UK’s massive vaccination plan also depends heavily on the Oxford / AstraZeneca drug, but this stock is produced in Britain.