AstraZeneca has sent us legal notice for vaccine supply delay: Poonawalla

For the next one or two months, we will be prioritising supplies only to India based on the request of the government and also depending on the needs of our people, said Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine maker, is juggling between meeting demands in its own country and its international commitments. SII CEO Adar Poonawalla, in an interview to Sohini Das, says that AstraZeneca has served a legal notice to the firm for delays in supplying the vaccine, and that SII has sought “a few thousand crores” as grant from the government to double the production of Covishield. Edited excerpts:

How are you balancing domestic and overseas demand for Covid vaccines?

I don’t think anybody would want to be in my position today where every head of state