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New Delhi: Cyrus Poonawalla, the chairman of the Poonawalla Group, has refuted the claims that he has ‘left’ the country, saying that he has merely joined son Adar Poonawalla and his family in London for a regular ‘summer vacation’.
This clarification comes as there were speculations about Cyrus Poonawalla fleeing the country after his son left for London a month ago.
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The Poonawalla group oversees the Serum Institute of India which is producing the Covishield vaccine in Pune. It has believed to have supplied almost 90 percent of the Covid vaccines in India so far.
Speaking to the Indian Express, Cyrus Poonawalla clarified that he was on summer vacation, a break that he takes every year in May and any speculation that they have “left” the country amid the Covid crisis was “false and malicious”.
Previously, Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India, went to London and has been there for nearly a month. During an interview, he had alleged that he was receiving threats from politicians demanding quick delivery of the Covishield vaccine. He also said that he was being vilified and blamed in India.
After controversy erupted over the same, Adar Poonawalla issued a statement from London on May 3 wherein he stated that it was not possible to ramp up vaccine production “overnight”. The company was making every effort to increase capacity and would work even harder to achieve that, he added.
Questions were raised on Adar’s statement about receiving threats and his departure for the UK shortly before India was red-flagged for travel. Later, he clarified that his stay in London was temporary and he was planning to return to India in a few days.
“I used to get Adar, when he was a child, to the UK. His children are now studying abroad, and it is a routine visit that he makes often to the country,” Cyrus told IE. Almost every year, I am in England attending the Derby in the first week of June, he added.
The aspect of SII planning to begin manufacturing operations in Europe was also mentioned, however, Cyrus said that it was too early to disclose any further details.
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