India shows the worst and best in relation to vaccines | Comment

Adar Poonavalla should be a walking advertisement for India’s pharmaceutical potential. But the millionaire owner and CEO of the Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has become a symbol of the country’s ties with the private sector. Prior to Kovitu, unlisted serum was not even a household name in India. It is now the biggest hope in the production of Covshield, the local name for the AstroGeneca vaccine.

This is particularly painful with the complaints of the founder’s son, Poonawalla, 40. On TimesHe said businessmen and politicians on Saturday threatened him to confirm the punctures. A few days before the interview was released, India offered him protection, in which he said he wanted to stay in London for a long time under pressure. He then said he would be back in a few days.

At the root of the problem is New Delhi’s strategy, which in April decided to allow state governments and private hospitals to buy half the shares, although under the new scheme they could pay two or more times more than the government. In this way, private companies hand over the irresponsible responsibility of rationing a limited distribution. It would be nice if management could focus on distribution.

Some rich countries pre-ordered more vaccines than they needed and gave manufacturers more confidence to increase production. New Delhi issued orders slowly and only when the vaccines were approved. Now your attempt to accelerate your campaign will be at the expense of others. The Kovacs program is counting on serum to help deliver to low-income countries, where the number of cases is also increasing. Those deals are now pending.

Poonawalla did not help its image by calling the lower profit margins benevolent. But one man undertook the task of saving lives in fear and planned to gamble abroad. It gives a scary picture of the country.

Authors are columnists Reuters Breaking Views. The ideas are yours. Translation, in Carlos Gomez Town, Which is responsible Five days