New Delhi: Serum Institute of India on Tuesday said it has never exported vaccines at the cost of the people in India and remains committed to support the vaccination drive in the country.
In the past few days, there has been an intense discussion on the decision of the government and Indian vaccine manufacturers, including Serum Institute of India (SII) to export vaccines, the company said in a statement.
Giving the background on the decision to export vaccines, SII said, "In January 2021, we had a large stockpile of vaccine doses. Our vaccination drive had started successfully and the number of daily cases being recorded was at an all-time low."
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Around the same time, many other countries in the world were facing an acute crisis and were in desperate need of help. The Indian government extended support wherever possible during this period, it added.
"Today, it is this reciprocity, where India has helped other countries with the supply of HCQ and vaccine exports, that has, in turn, led to support from other countries," SII said.
This pandemic is not limited by geographic or political boundaries. "We will not be safe till everyone globally can defeat this virus at a global scale. Further, as part of our global alliances, we also had commitments to COVAX, so that they could distribute the vaccines globally to end the pandemic," it added.
Another important factor that people do not tend to realise is that India is among the two most populous countries in the world, and a vaccination drive for such a large population cannot be completed within 2-3 months, as there are several factors and challenges involved, SII said.