At least five people died after a major fire broke out on Thursday at the site of the world’s largest vaccine producer, located in western India.
Images of Reuters the ANI partner showed black smoke coming from a building that was still under construction on the premises of the Serum Institute of India in Pune. The fire was controlled, but authorities later announced that five people had died.
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“We just received some distressing updates; after further investigation, we found that unfortunately there was some loss of life in the incident, ”Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, tweeted.
“We are deeply saddened and offer our deepest condolences to the relatives of the deceased,” he said.
Murlidhar Mohol, mayor of the city of Pune, in the southern state of Maharashtra, said the bodies found in the rubble after the fire was extinguished were likely construction workers, according to The Associated Press. The cause of the fire is not clear at this time.
The Serum Institute of India has been contracted to produce around 50 million doses per month of the vaccine developed by Oxford University and Astrazeneca at other facilities in the company’s complex. In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Poonawalla said he plans to increase production from 1.5 billion doses to 2.5 billion annually by the end of 2021. The facility under construction was part of the expansion, but Poonawalla said the fire will not affect the production of the vaccine, known locally as Covishield.
“I would like to assure all governments and the public that there would be no loss of #COVISHIELD production due to the various production buildings I kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at @SerumInstIndia,” he tweeted.
India recently approved the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine for emergency use earlier this month, along with one developed in the country. Approval for AstraZeneca photography in the USA appears to be imminent.
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