Serum Institute Suffers Rs 1000 Crore Loss Due To Fire, Supply Of BCG, Rota Vaccines To Be Affected; Corona Vaccine Covishield Is Safe

Sumit Singh
Pune, January 22, 2021: “Serum Institute of India (SII) corona vaccines are safe. Covishield vaccine production is not affected. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained” Chief Minister Uddhav Thackrey asserted today. He received detailed information about yesterday’s fire incident. He also interacted with the team of Serum Institute.

A fire broke out at a building unfortunately killing five workers. The centre’s plant where the Corona vaccine, Covishield, is made is completely safe.

The first two floors of the building where the incident took place are in use, while on the upper two floors a new centre was to be started. However, Covishield vaccine production is not affected. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. The Serum company has taken responsibility for the family of the deceased. Apart from that, the government will ascertain if there are other needs, he assured.

Poonawalla said there was no effect on the supply of the corona vaccine. BCG and other vaccine supply would be affected due to the damage. He clarified that the supply of the Covishield vaccine is smooth and does not affect the vaccination programs going, but the financial loss is huge.

“The fire has no impact on the production of the Covishield vaccine and no damage has occurred to the existing stock either. The supply of COVID-19 will not be affected due to the fire. No actual vaccine was being made at that facility. The extent of the damage is more than 1,000 crores”, Poonawalla said.

Neelam Gorhe, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Council, Labour Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray, MP Girish Bapat, MLA Chetan Tupe, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla, Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao, Commissioner of Police Amitabh Gupta, Chief Adviser to the Chief Minister Ajoy Mehta, Health Advisor Dr Deepak Mhaisekar, Pune Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar, Collector Dr Rajesh Deshmukh, Chief Executive Officer of Zilla Parishad Ayush Prasad were present at the time.