Serum: `1,000 cr lost in inferno
Maha CM visits SII, Poonawalla says Covid vaccine supply will continue
Pune, Jan. 22: The Serum Institute of India (SII) on Friday said that it has suffered losses of over `1,000 crore due to the devastating fire that erupted a day before at its premises here, even as Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that whether the blaze was an accident or sabotage will be known once the probe gets over.
Five contractual labourers died in the fire that broke out in a five-storey building in the SII’s Manjari premises in Pune on Thursday.
The chief minister visited the SII on Friday to take stock of the damages. He later addressed a press conference, where Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SII was also present.
Talking to reporters, Poonawalla said, "The extent of the damage is more than `1,000 crore because of the equipment and products over there that were to be launched."
He, however, reiterated that the Covishield vaccine production has not been impacted due to the blaze.
"Fortunately, we have got multiple facilities and as CM sir has explained, the Covid-19 vaccine’s supply will not be affected due to the incident," Poonawalla added.
"We were very lucky that the incident took place in the building where the Covid-19 vaccine was not being stored.
It has happened where other vaccines are being produced and we will make up that production," he said.
He added that the facility meant for Rotavirus and BCG vaccines has suffered major damages in the fire.
"But we will try and make up the supply gap in our other facilities. Mainly, the loss is financial and there will not be any loss in terms of supplies," the SII CEO said.
Mr Poonawalla said this was a new building where additional production capacity was being put in place. He added that the fire incident took place at the filling line and bulk production line.
"These new filling lines and bulk production lines were under installation. This was brand new facility. The incident happened when the installation and other things were going on and no actual vaccine was being made there that time and it was for the future so the losses are for the future," he said.