Any company can make so many products – allopathic or vaccines – but why did the Serum Institute of India (SII) succeed? Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman and Managing Director of SII, asked this question, providing an answer – making a vaccine that is available at the price of a cup of tea. 

“The big secret of Serum Institute’s success is that all over in the most developing countries no vaccine was available and is not available even today and, therefore, people would have died. Experts from the world over have estimated that around 30 million children’s lives have been saved because we have provided vaccines at affordable price” said Poonawalla.

He was speaking at the Pune International Business Summit, organised by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), on Monday. He was felicitated for receiving the Padma Bhushan award. Poonawalla said that when he started a small institute in Pune, he was unaware that it would become a vaccine giant, but vaccines at a price of a cup of tea, made all the difference.

“ I grew up in Pune and also established Serum, which had a big name at that time. With a small industry that I set up in the small corner of Hadapsar, little did I know at that time that with the help of my scientists and associates, that the company would grow into a vaccine giant and becomes the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world by the number of doses, not the money that we have made,” said Poonawalla. 

He added that nearly two-thirds of the world’s infant population has been protected by one or more of Serum vaccines. 

“ Most of our vaccines have been used by poorer nations, UNICEF and other philanthropic organisations, who came forward to buy vaccines which I provided with help of my staff and scientists to make it affordable at a price of a cup of tea. And this has made the world self-sufficient for most of the communicable vaccines required to protect the children and adults where it is required,” said Poonawalla. 

Poonawalla added that the Serum used the same templet for Covishield. “The main crux of the matter is that the same templet we applied, low cost, high production, and we were able to make 90 per cent of India’s requirement of Covid vaccines. All over the world, they are surprised how a company in India has been able to provide vaccines to protect the rest of the countries,” said Poonawalla. 

He added that not only Africa but 170 countries worldwide use SII vaccines. 

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