'More than enough' coronavirus vaccines to be kept for Parsis, says Adar Poonawalla

Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of the vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII), has said his company would "keep more than enough" doses of the coronavirus vaccine for the Parsi community.

Poonawalla's statement came after producer Ronnie Screwvala tagged him on Twitter and said, "On a lighter note, Since Parsi's are to be Extinct race (Though the average age of Parsi's show otherwise) there is a lobby that as the vaccine does come in there will be a special quota under-saving from extinction race-& why not if a Parsi is at the forefront of it".

On a lighter note -since Parsi's are to be an Extinct race (though avg age of Parsi's show otherwise) there is a lobby that as vaccine does come in there will be a special Quota under saving from extinction Race-&why not if a Parsi is at the forefront of it @adarpoonawalla

- Ronnie Screwvala (@RonnieScrewvala) July 26, 2020

On which, Poonawalla replied, "Yes, Ronnie Screwvala, we will keep more than enough for the community".   Poonawalla added, "Our production capacity of just one day will be enough to cover every Parsi on the planet...given the size of our community!".

Yes, @RonnieScrewvala, we will keep more than enough for the community. Our production capacity of just one day will be enough to cover every Parsi on the planet...given the size of our community! https://t.co/qkCDrynMeW

- Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) July 26, 2020

Meanwhile, Poonawalla's  father Cyrus has reportedly agreed to set aside 60,000 vials of COVID-19 vaccine exclusively for the Parsi community to which he belongs.

Recently, Poonawalla said the SII aimed to manufacture 300 million to 400 million doses by the year-end, following the success of initial and licensure trials. The 39-year-old CEO also added that SII will be able to manufacture one billion doses for India and nearly 70 low and middle-income countries. The high prevalence of COVID-19 infections in Mumbai and Pune will help test the efficacy of the vaccine, SII said.

The SII has partnered with AstraZeneca for the manufacturing of the Oxford vaccine candidate for coronavirus. Last week, Oxford University announced satisfactory progress with the vaccine. According to a report by reputed medical journal Lancet, the initial trial results showed that the vaccine was safe and promoted a protective immune response.

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