'Excited, looking forward to Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine,' says Adar Poonawalla

The Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine is being viewed by many experts as the current frontrunner in the race for an effective COVID-19 vaccine. Amongst the people cheering for the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine is Serum Institute of India chief Adar Poonawalla. He said that he is proud and excited about the candidate.

"Proud and excited for the next few months and looking forward to the vaccine," Poonawalla tweeted. Attached to the tweet is a photograph in which Poonawalla is standing next to the Edward Jenner statue at Oxford University, along with Professor Adrian Hill. in another photograph, both of them are standing outside the Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility at Oxford University.

The origins of the Oxford vaccine with Professor Adrian Hill; standing next to the legendary Edward Jenner statue, here at @UniofOxford. Proud and excited for the next few months and looking forward to the vaccine. pic.twitter.com/rRJVBWGV7N

- Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) September 7, 2020

Poonawalla's Serum Institute of India had signed a deal with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca to manufacture the potential vaccine developed by the Jenner Institute of Oxford University. Serum Institute of India is the largest manufacture of vaccines by volume in the world.

Professor Adrian Hill is the Director of the Jenner Institute that works on developing and designing vaccines for infectious diseases prevalent across the world. In this instance, they are developing a vaccine for COVID-19 which has claimed over 9 lakh lives across the world.

Serum Institute of India has also entered into a partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to accelerate manufacturing and delivery of 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for India and other low- and middle-income countries.

Earlier, Serum Institute of India had signed a supply and licence agreement with US vaccine-maker Novavax for the development and commercialisation of its potential COVID-19 vaccine. This will give Serum Insititute of India exclusive rights for manufacturing and distributing the vaccine in India during the term of the deal. It will also have non-exclusive rights in all countries other than those termed by the World Bank as upper-middle and high-income countries.

Adar Poonawalla was recently named among the top "emerging leaders" from across the world by Fortune in its annual list of influential people under the age of forty.

Also Read: Vaccine maker Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla in Fortune's global '40 under 40' list

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