On Thursday, January 21 there was a massive fire reported from Serum Institute of India's (SII) Manjari facility. As a result of this fire, five people have lost their lives and SII has announced a compensation of INR 25 lakhs for the family of the person that has lost life in this incident.
Ever since the news of the fire broke, a lot of people have been wondering if this was a plot to sabotage the production of Covishield.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday visited the facility and also addressed a press conference. Speaking on
Addressing a press conference after visiting the site of the fire, Thackeray said: "News came that fire broke out at the institute but fortunately, the site where the vaccine is manufactured and stored is not affected. I am informed by Adar and Cyrus that Covid vaccine is manufactured at distance from the fire site."
"Let the investigation get completed. It is not correct to say anything now. After the probe gets over, we will know whether it was an accident or sabotage," he added.
For those unaware, Covishield is the vaccine that is developed by the SII in partnership with the Oxford University and British-Swedish pharma firm AstraZeneca to fight coronavirus.
According to Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SII, there has been no damage to the Covishield vaccine production due to this fire incident. However, other facilities involved in the production of Rotavirus and BCG vaccines were damaged. He has also pegged the financial losses due to the fire to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore.
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