Lift Embargo On Vaccine Raw Material Exports: Serum Institute's Adar Poonawalla Urges US President Biden

Serum Institute of India's (SII) chief executive officer (CEO) Adar Poonawalla on Friday (16 April) urged United States President Joe Biden to lift the embargo on exports of raw materials out of the US to enable the vaccine-makers to ramp up their production.

The development comes as the Biden administration in US had recently invoked the Defence Production Act to ban the export of critical raw materials required for their local vaccine manufacturers. The ban has hit other countries' vaccine manufacturers, including India's Bharat Biotech and SII.

It should be noted that Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has been producing the 'Covaxin' Covid-19 vaccine while the SII is manufacturing the Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covid-19 jab in India.

Tagging the US President on Twitter, the Serum CEO tweeted on Friday (16 April), "If we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up".

It should be noted that SII has already delivered over 100 million doses to India and exported around 60 million doses to other countries.

The company reportedly plans to expand its vaccine manufacturing to 110 million doses from June onwards, for which the supply of raw materials from US is crucial.