AstraZeneca – Fireplace Rips By COVID-19 Vaccine Plant in India | Voice of America

Fireplace erupted Thursday in a constructing underneath building in India that’s owned by the world’s largest vaccine maker, however the firm mentioned it might not have an effect on manufacturing of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The hearth broke out at a Serum Institute of India (SII) constructing within the western metropolis of Pune.

Fireplace official Prashant Ranpise mentioned the reason for the hearth was not instantly clear, but it surely was contained to a facility underneath building to spice up manufacturing of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla sought to reassure the worldwide group the hearth didn’t have an effect on the corporate’s manufacturing of the vaccine, labeled COVISHIELD in India, which many low- and middle-income international locations are relying on to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I would like to reassure all governments & the public that there would be no loss of COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies,” Poonawalla tweeted.

Ranpise mentioned three individuals had been rescued from the hearth and nobody was injured.  

SII has been contracted to provide a billion does of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford College.

Poonawalla informed the Related Press in December that his family-owned firm hopes to extend manufacturing capability from 1.5 billion doses to 2.5 billion doses yearly by the top of this yr. He mentioned the brand new facility is a part of the plan.

Rich international locations have already got purchased 75% of the 12 billion coronavirus vaccine doses anticipated to be produced this yr. Consequently, SII is prone to produce a lot of the vaccines that might be utilized by growing international locations.