NEW DELHI: Observers and netizens questioned India’s capacity to manufacture and produce high-quality vaccines after a fire ravaged a plant at India’s biggest vaccine maker and caused five deaths on Thursday.
Pictures and videos circulating online showed the blaze, but Indian media reports and the company itself, the Serum Institute of India (SII), said the accident would not affect the production of COVID-19 vaccines.
There will be no impact on vaccine production as the company has other facilities “kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies,” Adar Poonawalla, the firm’s CEO, tweeted on Thursday night.
But some netizens questioned how such a fire could not affect stockpile plans.
“The fire was likely caused by some electronic fault, which would affect the company’s functioning. This is a basic supply chain problem,” an Indian Twitter user said.
“They [the Indian media] are reporting what the company said and are very clear that’s what they’re doing. Should they only report what the company’s official statement is?” said another.
Murlidhar Mohol, mayor of Pune city in southern Maharashtra state where the SII plant is located, said that the extent of the damage was not immediately clear, AP reported, noting that dozens of company workers in lab suits were leaving the compound as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze.
Analysts said that as the accident occurred at India’s largest vaccine manufacturer, it may affect people’s confidence in high-quality vaccine production.
Fires are not uncommon at factories in India, and are mainly caused by electricity faults, Tian Guangqiang, an assistant research fellow with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.
Also, many companies do not have the capacity to produce qualified vaccines, and they cannot increase capacity quickly, Tian said, adding that the coverage from the Indian media is mainly intended to stabilize the situation and ease fears.
India started one of the world’s toughest inoculation projects on Saturday, aiming to vaccinate 300 million people by July with the SII-produced Covishield and Covaxin, made by another local firm, Bharat Biotech. The country has also offered its vaccines to nearby countries, including Bhutan and the Maldives, followed by three million doses offered to Nepal and Bangladesh, Aljazeera reported.
–The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
