Late last month, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla was criticised for his decision to leave for the UK as his company came under pressure to meet soaring demand for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Adar Poonawalla told a UK-based newspaper that he had received aggressive calls from powerful people in India, who were demanding supply of the Covishield vaccine made by Serum Institute.
Adar had also indicated Serum Institute was looking to expand vaccine production to countries outside India.
On Sunday, The Indian Express reported that Cyrus Poonawalla, the chairman and managing director of Serum and Adar's father, had also left for the UK. Cyrus told The Indian Express that he was on a "routine vacation" and dismissed as "false and malicious" suggestions he and his son had "left" India during the COVID-19 crisis.
“I used to get Adar, when he was a child, to the UK. His children are now studying abroad, and it is a routine visit that he makes often to the country... As far as we are concerned, it is an annual holiday time. In fact, almost every year, I am in England attending the Derby in the first week of June," Cyrus Poonawalla told The Indian Express.
He told The Indian Express that Serum Institute was eyeing expansion of operations in Europe. “Our production (of COVID-19) vaccines is under way in India, and we are looking at some preliminary engagements with manufacturing units in Europe. It is too early to disclose further details,” Cyrus told The Indian Express. The publication added Serum Institute was looking at sites in the UK and Ukraine for expanding production.
Serum Institute had come in for criticism for the prices of Covishield for states and private hospitals. Following criticism, Adar Poonawalla announced a cut in the prices.
On Saturday,Adar Poonawalla had tweeted Serum Institute was "doing our best to ramp up production & launch new vaccines on priority for India".
On May 3, Adar had released a statement that argued manufacturing of vaccines was a specialised process that could not be ramped up overnight.
