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Tag: Serum Institute of India

  • Scammers posing as Adar Poonawalla defraud Serum Institute of Rs 1 crore

    Scammers posing as Adar Poonawalla defraud Serum Institute of Rs 1 crore

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    Vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) was defrauded of more than Rs 1 crore in September 2022 when fraudsters sent the company messages requesting money transfers in the name of their chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla.

    The Pune Police said today that they have arrested seven suspects in the case in which Serum Institute of India (SII) was defrauded of over Rs 1.01 crore, news agency ANI reported.

    According to the complaint, in September 2022, Satish Deshpande, a director at the Serum Institute of India (SII), received a message on WhatsApp from a person impersonating SII CEO Adar Poonawalla requesting money be sent to seven different accounts.

    The complaint made by the company’s finance manager further stated that the sender demanded that Deshpande immediately transfer money to specific bank accounts. Deshpande transferred Rs 1,01,01,554 online into those accounts under the impression that the message came from Poonawalla, only to discover later that the company had been conned.

    In response to a complaint filed in this regard, police conducted an investigation and identified the eight accounts to which the funds were transferred.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Smartana Patil (Zone II) said, “It has been revealed the money was transferred into the accounts of these seven people who have now been arrested from different parts of the country. However, the main accused is still absconding.”

    She went on to say that they had seized all of these accounts as well as 40 others from which the funds had been transferred.

    “We have also frozen Rs 13 lakh in these accounts,” she said.

    The Cyber Unit of the Pune City Police arrested three suspects in the case on Friday. “The Cyber Unit of Pune City police has arrested 3 accused involved in the case relating to cheating Serum Institute of India posing as CEO Adar Poonawalla. A total of 7 accused have been arrested till now. The main accused remains absconding,” the police said.

    The Serum Institute of India is a biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals company based in Pune, India. Among other vaccines, the company manufactures the Covishield vaccine, which is used to protect against coronavirus.

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  • SII stopped Covishield production in Dec 2021, says CEO Adar Poonawalla

    SII stopped Covishield production in Dec 2021, says CEO Adar Poonawalla

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    Chief Executive Officer of Serum Institute of India (SII), Adar Poonawalla, on Thursday said the vaccine manufacturer stopped the production of Covishield vaccine starting December 2021, and of the total stock available at that time, around 100 million doses had already got expired.

    Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN), he said booster vaccines have no demand as there is general lethargy among people and also because they are fed up with the pandemic.

    “Since December 2021, we stopped the production (of Covishield). We had a stock of a few hundred million doses at that time and of that, 100 million doses have already expired,” said Poonawalla when asked about the update on the Covishield vaccine.

    He said the SII’s vaccines are allowed to be mixed.

    “Now, Covovax should be allowed in two weeks. So I think they will and should probably have the policy to mix boosters. If WHO allowed it, then maybe the Indian regulator will and should allow it. But again, boosters have no demand at the moment. There is lethargy generally. People are fed up of COVID, vaccines. To be honest, I am also fed up with it. We all are,” he said.

    Going forward, when people take a few shots every year, they may take anti-coronavirus vaccines and other shots together, Poonawalla said, adding, “It will become that kind of a product.”

    “In India, there is no culture of taking flu shots as we see it in the West. We tried when we launched a few vaccines in 2010. During the H1NI pandemic in 2011, no one took it. Flu is not something that sounds scary to people. They just do not want to take it,” he said.

    Covishield was produced at the SII’s Pune facility with a master seed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca. The SII had announced its partnership with Oxford University to manufacture the vaccine in April 2020.

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