NE HEALTH BUREAU
PUNE, AUG 7
Serum Institute of India said on Friday it would receive $150 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the GAVI vaccines alliance to make 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for India and other emerging economies as early as 2021.
This collaboration with @SerumInstIndia and @Gavi will help ensure every country, “not just the wealthy few”, will have access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. https://t.co/IvtntrRXui
— Gates Foundation (@gatesfoundation) August 7, 2020
The candidate vaccines, including those from AstraZeneca and Novavax, will be priced at $3 (Rs 225) per dose and will be made available in 92 countries in GAVI’s COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), the company said in a statement.
Thank you @adarpoonawalla for setting a great example of how vaccine manufacturers can help ensure the world’s poorest countries aren’t left at the back of the queue for vaccines. I’m proud of this collaboration and hope other manufacturers will follow @SerumInstIndia’s lead https://t.co/ZzBKlz2V4i
— Seth Berkley (@DrSethBerkley) August 7, 2020
The Gates Foundation will provide the funds to GAVI, which will be used to support Serum Institute.
GAVI, backed by the Gates Foundation, is a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries.
It co-leads COVAX – a scheme designed to guarantee fast and equitable access globally to COVID-19 vaccines – along with the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
COVAX aims to deliver 2 billion doses of approved and effective COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.
India reported a record jump in daily coronavirus infections on Friday and became the third country in the world to surpass 2 million cases. It lags only the United States and Brazil in the number of infections.
