‘Expect Covid vaccine to be available by year-end’

With all eyes on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, its Pune-based manufacturing partner Serum Institute plans to make one billion doses of the jab over the next year for India and other low- and middle-income countries. Serum CEO Adar Poonawalla tells Sushmi Dey he wants to keep the price of the vaccine below Rs 1,000. Excerpts:

Everyone is closely watching the development of Covid-19 vaccines. How promising are the results of clinical trials with the Oxford candidate and what are the plans at Serum Institute?

With the recent Phase 1 & 2 trials data, I am hopeful that the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine candidate will be immunogenic and effective. If the Phase 3 trials are successful, we are certain that ‘Covishield’ will be one of the first vaccines to be introduced in the market. We seek to apply for licensure trials in a week’s time to DCGI. With the government fast-tracking everything, we are hoping to get approvals soon, post that we will begin Phase 3 human trials in India wi