National Desk: Serum Institute of India (SII) on Friday announced that it had entered into a partnership with GAVI and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The company vows that it will produce 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccines will be for low and middle-income countries. Out of the 100 million doses, 50 million doses are expected to be made available in India.
The company is set to receive 150 million dollars in funding. The vaccine is reported to be priced at Rs. 225 per dose. The vaccines will be made available in around 90 countries in GAVI’s COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).
The Gates and Melinda Foundation is set to provide the fund to GAVI and the funds will support Serum Institute.
The partnership will provide capital and help them in increasing their manufacturing capacity. This means that once a vaccine gains regulatory approval and WHO qualification, the doses can be produced on a large scale.
Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India (SII) is a manufacturer of immunobiological drugs including vaccines in India. SII was founded by Cyrus Poonawalla in 1966. SII can be considered as the world’s largest vaccine producer by the number of doses produced.
The company produces around 1.3 billion doses of vaccines every year.
SII has tied up with the AstraZeneca pharma firm. AstraZeneca is developing a COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with Oxford University.
The Pune based SII company has also partnered with Novavax for the development and distribution of Novavax COVID-19 vaccine.
On the other hand, GAVI is a public-private global health partnership. Its foremost goal is to increase access to immunization in poor countries. GAVI is the amalgamation of WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, developing countries, and donor governments. Vaccine industries, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private foundations are also a part of GAVI.
GAVI’s approach to public health can be described as technology-focused and business-oriented.