Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the Serum Institute of India, on Sunday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) over his COVID-19 vaccine offer to the world.
Poonawalla said the Prime Minister’s arrangements for the country will take care of all the needs of the Indian people.
“We share and applaud your vision @narendramodi ji, on providing vaccines to the global community. It is a proud moment for India, thank you for your leadership and support. It is clear that all your arrangements for India will take care of all needs for the Indian people,” Poonawala tweeted.
This came a day after Adar had asked the government if they had Rs 80,000 crore to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone in India.
“Quick question; will the government of India have 80,000 crores available, over the next one year? Because that’s what @MoHFW_INDIA needs, to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone in India. This is the next concerning challenge we need to tackle,” Adar tweeted on Saturday.
“I ask this question, because we need to plan and guide, vaccine manufacturers both in India and overseas to service the needs of our country in terms of procurement and distribution,” Adar added.
PM Modi, in his address to the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, said, “Even during these very difficult times of a raging pandemic, the pharma industry of India had provided medicines to more than 150 countries. As the largest vaccine producing country of the world, I want to assure the global community that India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis.”
