New Delhi – Five people died in a fire that broke out in the sprawling complex of the Serum Institute of India, one of the world’s largest vaccine factories currently producing millions of doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
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The fire broke out Thursday afternoon in a building still under construction on the 40-acre site in the southwestern city of Pune. It was brought under control Thursday night, but at least two of the top floors of the five-story building had been gutted.
“Today is an extremely sad day for all of us at the Serum Institute of India. Sadly, human lives were lost in the fire that broke out,” Adar Poonawalla, CEO and owner of the Serum Institute of India said in a statement. He said the victims’ families would receive “compensation” of about $ 34,000 per person, in addition to the mandatory payout.
Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol confirmed that five people had died. Their bodies were found on the charred floors of the building.
Earlier in the day Poonawalla said production of the coronavirus vaccine, produced in India under the Covishield brand, would not be affected by the fire.
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Police and firefighters said the fire would be investigated. The cause is not immediately clear.
The Serum Institute began shipping hundreds of thousands of doses of Covishield last week. It says 100 million doses should have been produced by March.
India launched what has been described as the world’s largest mass vaccination campaign on Saturday. The government plans to vaccinate 300 million people by July. Along with the Covishield shots, India will also use Covaxin, a domestic vaccine produced by Bharat Biotech.
Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, producing 1.5 billion doses of drugs annually to combat a range of diseases, including polio, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, measles, mumps and rubella. The products are exported to more than 170 countries.
Several middle and low-income countries rely on the Serum Institute to deliver their supplies of coronavirus vaccines through the global, World Health Organization Backed COVAX Plan. The project, which aims to distribute coronavirus vaccines fairly around the world, has secured an order for 200 million doses from the Serum facility.
Bangladesh, Nepal and several African and Central Asian countries expect their first shipments from Covishield in the coming weeks.
India exported the first batches of the Oxford-formulated vaccine from Serum to Bhutan and the Maldives on Wednesday.
The UK’s massive vaccination plan also relies heavily on the Oxford / AstraZeneca drug, but that stock is produced in Britain.