CovidShield CEO Adar Poonawalla threatened by the most powerful men in India

By
IFE Admin
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Just few days ago the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued orders to provide ‘Y’ category security to Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla. Pune-based SII is the world’s largest vaccine maker. Covishield, one of the two Covid-19 vaccines approved for emergency use in India, is being manufactured by SII.

The phone calls are the worst thing, says Adar Poonawalla, the biggest manufacturer of vaccines in the world. They are incessant and very menacing, adds the man whose Serum Institute is producing 90 per cent of India’s Covid-19 vaccines at a time when the pandemic is rampaging through the second most populous country on Earth, causing fear, panic and death on an appalling scale.

The calls come from some of the most powerful men in India. They come from the chief ministers of Indian states, heads of business conglomerates and others demanding instant supplies of Covishield, as the AstraZeneca vaccine is known in India. “ ‘Threats’ is an understatement,” Poonawalla says. “The level of expectation and aggression is unprecedented. It’s overwhelming.

The real question is Who is the powerful man making a call to the COVID vaccine manufacturer in India theat compelled him to contemplate taking production out of India?

It is time for the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expose these culprits who are now threatening the vaccine makers who is saving billions in the foreign receiver and billion-plus lives.

Explaining the intimidatory undertones of the calls, Poonawalla says “They are saying if you don’t give us the vaccine it’s not going to be good. It’s not foul language, it’s the tone. It’s the implication of what they might do if I don’t comply. It’s coming over and basically surrounding the place and not letting us do anything unless we give in to their demands.”

Poonawalla is currently in London, having flown out before UK closed the window on arrivals from India.

“I’m staying here (London) an extended time because I don’t want to go back to that situation. Everything falls on my shoulders but I can’t do it alone…I don’t want to be in a situation where you are just trying to do your job, and just because you can’t supply the needs of X, Y or Z you really don’t want to guess what they are going to do,” he said.

Poonawalla indicated in the interview that his move to London is also linked to business plans to expand vaccine manufacturing to countries outside India, which may include the likes of the UK.

“There’s going to be an announcement in the next few days,” he said when asked about Britain as one of the production bases outside India.

Source: The Times UK, Time of India, Social Media (Twitter)