A large fire broke out Thursday at the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, The Serum Institute of India which also produces the COVID-19 vaccine.
The following written content from Yaron Steinbuch
.“Thank you everyone for your concern and prayers,” SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Twitter. “So far the most important thing is that there have been no lives lost or major injuries due to the fire, despite a few floors being destroyed.”
He added in a later tweet: “I would like to reassure all governments & the public that there would be no loss of #COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at @SerumInstIndia.”
The firm is producing about 50 million doses a month of a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca at other facilities in the complex.
Officials said at least five fire trucks had been sent to fight the blaze at the building, which a source described to Reuters as an “under-construction vaccine plant.”
No injuries were reported and there was no immediate word on the cause of the fire.
Poonawalla told the Associated Press last month that SII hopes to increase production capacity from 1.5 billion doses to 2.5 billion doses per year by the end of 2021. Read more from NY Post
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