Adar Poonawalla blames government for delay in launch of his vaccine Covovax

Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive officer (CEO) of Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) today blamed the government for the delay in launch of his vaccine Covovax.

He alleged that the momentum in giving fast track approvals have been lost as Covid situation improved in the country.

"In Delhi over the last three months, what we are seeing is that we have gone back to the what I would say usual, normal processes business as usual where the urgency isn't there. There are the priorities. So, we are taking our time with approvals and that's where you see a lot of delays," he said at the Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2022 on Friday.
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Poonawalla said that committees don't meet on time to decide on matters.

He said Covovax, which has been sold in Europe and Australia, but can't put on the Cowin app right now in India as the government has to take its decisions on how to implement it in the programme.

"We've got approval from the regulator, yet we cannot sell it and give it to our children in India. So these are the kinds of hurdles that we need to get over and the Government of India recognises very much the importance of health now especially during this pandemic," he said.

He said that the Prime Minister has sent a message to all the ministries and bureaucrats to grow and support the sector but he doesn't see that happening.

"I see the old ways of business as usual and I hope that we can get that momentum back," he said.

Earlier, in March, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) under the Central Drugs Control Standard Organisation (CDCSO) recommended COVOVAX, for emergency use authorization (EUA) in the 12 to 17 years age group.

However, the vaccine is yet to be included in the vaccination drive.

Pune based SII had in February sought restricted emergency use of COVOVAX in adolescents.