Jakarta –

A man from India should be able to end COVID-19 pandemic. The man is Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII).

It is not without reason that the man nicknamed the “Prince of Vaccine from India” made a significant contribution to creating a COVID-19 vaccine, a way to end the pandemic.

He was determined to make millions of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, which was still uncertain at the time. Adar is ready to spend millions of dollars on its manufacturing facilities in India.

At that time the vaccine was made by Oxford University and AstraZeneca (AZN) is still in clinical testing. Nobody is sure how long it will take to develop a vaccine, let alone whether it will work.

“That was a calculated risk,” said Poonawalla, but at the time, to be honest, I saw no other choice. I’m just sorry if I don’t do it one way or another, “Adar told CNN.

For his plan to work, Poonawalla will have to raise nearly $ 1 billion first. In addition, SII has also promised to deliver vaccine supplies to poor countries.

If this succeeds, Adar will save countless lives and be celebrated as a hero during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It wasn’t long before his plan found a bright spot. The clinical trial was successful and AstraZeneca received UK regulatory approval in December 2020.

In preparation for AstraZeneca’s vaccine production, Adar said he spent $ 800 million buying chemicals, glass bottles and other raw materials, as well as increasing production capacity at its facility in the west Indian city of Pune.

The Adar family takes an unconventional path to become one of the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers. They have been breeding and driving thoroughbred horses since the 1940s and have diversified into pharmaceuticals, finance and real estate over the past half century.

But the path is not always smooth. Third wave of COVID-19 in India is causing SII to doubt its ability to manufacture vaccines on a large scale.

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