Huge fire breaks out at Indian Covid vaccine maker contracted to produce Oxford jab

Sources say the global production of the Oxford vaccine will not be affected

A huge fire has broken out at a plant being built in the world’s biggest vaccine maker, but it will not affect production of coronavirus vaccines, a source close to the firm said.

The Serum Institute of India (SII), has been contracted to manufacture one billion vaccine doses developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca for India and many other low- and middle-income countries. 

The company is also getting ready to produce a vaccine being developed by the U.S. company Novavax Inc .

The fire office in the western Indian city of Pune, where SII is based, told Reuters that five fire trucks had been sent to the site. 

There was no immediate word on any casualties, nor on the cause of the fire.

Early reports suggest the fire broke out in a building that is under construction to increase production of Covid vaccines.

The company said the fire did not affect existing facilities making Covid-19 vaccines or a stockpile of around 50 million doses.

AP

John Hopkins University has reported 2,077,005 global Covid-deaths since the pandemic began.

The world is on the brink of a “catastrophic moral failure” in the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.

Global health leaders said that in one low-income country just 25 people have been vaccinated.

The WHO’s director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for equitable distribution of the vaccine.

“The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure – and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries,” he told the WHO’s executive board meeting.

Dr Tedros added: “It’s right that all governments want to prioritise vaccinating their own health workers and older people first.

“But it’s not right that younger, healthier adults in rich countries are vaccinated before health workers and older people in poorer countries.

“There will be enough vaccine for everyone. But, right now, we must work together as one global family to prioritise those most at risk of severe diseases and death, in all countries.

“More than 39 million doses of vaccine have now been administered in at least 49 higher-income countries. Just 25 doses have been given in one lowest-income country. Not 25 million; not 25 thousand; just 25.”

Four million people had been vaccinated against Covid-19 in the UK.

Dr Tedros added that a “me first” approach would prolong the pandemic as well as human and economic suffering.

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