Serum endorses receipt of Rs. 1732 crore from govt

Serum Institute of India (SII) on Monday endorsed the government statement that 100 per cent advance of Rs. 1732 crore has been released to the company on April 28 for 11 crore doses of the Covishield vaccine for May, June and July. “We endorse this statement, & the authenticity of the information. We have been working closely with the Government of India for the past year & thank it for its support. We remain committed to ramping up our vaccine production to save every life we can,” SII said on Twitter.

The company’s response came after the Health Ministry in a statement refuted allegations that it has not placed any fresh orders for the Covishield vaccine with SII.

The Health Ministry earlier said that it has paid the entire advance of Rs 1,732.50 crore to SII for 11 crore doses of Covishield vaccine for three months — May, June and July.

The amount, which after TDS was Rs 1,699.50 crore, was received by the SII on April 28 itself, it said.