He is the son of the “vaccine king”: Adar Poonawalla, 39, heads the Serum Institute of India, which his father and billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla founded 54 years ago.
The Serum Institute is the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines in terms of doses sold and delivers around 1.5 billion doses to 170 countries every year, even in normal times.
At the beginning of the pandemic in April, Poonawalla began preparing glass tubes for mass production.
WORLD:
You began mass production of vaccine doses in April before a coronavirus vaccine candidate had reached phase 3 of the trials.
Why were you willing to take this risk and how much did you invest?
Adar Poonawalla
: That was my most important decision this year.
If I hadn't invested $ 250 to 300 million in April, to which Bill Gates added another $ 300 million, we would have to wait another six months until we had enough production.
Now that the results are good for Astra Zeneca, we will be able to apply for emergency approval and then deliver the cans immediately.