Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla in an interview to CNBC-TV18 on Tuesday said that the company has decided to cut production of Covishield, by as much as 50% as there aren’t any further orders from the Centre.
He, however, added that the vaccine-manufacturer will keep excess production capacity for exigencies. Poonwalla said that the company doesn't want to be in a situation where it is unable to provide vaccines for 6 months.
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Speaking on on the efficacy of the current vaccines against Omicron, Poonawalla said there’s no reason to believe that existing jabs will not work. He said that Indian experts have deemed the level of protection as very good, adding that Astrazenaca had 80% efficacy against the virus as per Lancet.