BackCovid vaccine: Day after fire, Serum Institute dispatches Covishield to Myanmar, Seychelles, Mauritius
The manufacturing of Serum's Covid-19 vaccine Covishield, which is produced at another site in Manjri, hasn't been affected by the major fire
PremiumFive people died in a massive fire that broke out at the Serum Institute of India's (SII) site near Pune on Thursday, damaging equipment worth hundreds of crores at India's top vaccine manufacturer.
The five who died were construction workers whose bodies were recovered by the fire department.
However, the manufacturing of Serum's Covid-19 vaccine Covishield, which is produced at another site in Manjri, hasn't been affected by the major fire, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla has confirmed.
A day after the fire, the SII has dispatched consignments of the Covishield vaccine for Myanmar, Seychelles and Mauritius.
The flight for Myanmar was scheduled to take off at 6:40 am today from Mumbai while the vaccine consignment for Mauritius and Seychelles will be sent via one flight expected to depart at 11 am.
According to sources, a consignment containing 1.5 million doses of Covishield vaccine will reach Yangon, Myanmar today.
A consignment of 50,000 doses of Covishield vaccine is scheduled to reach Seychelles as part of India's vaccine donation programme. Seychelles is only among the four Indian Ocean countries to receive the Covishield vaccine, manufactured by the SII.
"The donation of the vaccines under the VaccineMaitri demonstrates India's role as a reliable partner of Seychelles and net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region. This is also reflective of India's special relations with Seychelles and the central place enjoyed by Seychelles in Prime Minister Modi's vision of SAGAR: "Security and Growth for All in the Region"," the source told news agency ANI.
Seychelles has around 1 lakh inhabitants and the 50,000 doses of Covishield will be able to cover nearly 25% of the total Seychelles population, they added.
Mauritius will receive a consignment of 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccine. "Mauritius has a population of less than 1.3 million inhabitants and is highly dependent on external trade and tourism and hospitality industry which has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The request for supply of Indian vaccines was made from the highest level in the Mauritius government," as per the sources.
India's Ministry of External Affairs had announced a Covid vaccine rollout for Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles from Wednesday which comes in line with its 'Neighbourhood First Policy'.
With agency inputs
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