New Delhi: To scale up production of its Covishield vaccine, the Serum Institute of India (SII) had borrowed money from banks instead of waiting for the government’s aid to arrive.
The company assumed that the funding from the government will reach them very soon, probably by this week.
Covishield has been developed by the Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and manufactured by the Pune-based SII.
To boost India’s vaccine production in wake of the huge surge in Covid-19 caseload, the government on Monday announced that it has given in-principle approval for credit to vaccine manufacturers, SII and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. The Union Finance Ministry has approved a sanction of Rs 3,000 crore credit for SII and Rs 1,500 crore to Bharat Biotech.
The credit will be disbursed at the earliest.
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, earlier had suggested that the company would require around Rs 3,000 crore to increase production of Covid-19 vaccines.
