India’s Serum Institute to get $150 million from Gates Foundation for COVID-19 vaccine

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Serum Institute of India said on Friday it would receive $150 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the GAVI vaccines alliance to make 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for India and other emerging economies as early as 2021.

The candidate vaccines, including those from AstraZeneca and Novavax, will be priced at $3 per dose and will be made available in 92 countries in GAVI’s COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), the company said in a statement.

The Gates Foundation will provide the funds to GAVI, which will be used to support Serum Institute.

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GAVI, backed by the Gates Foundation, is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries.

It co-leads COVAX – a scheme designed to guarantee fast and equitable access globally to COVID-19 vaccines – along with the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

COVAX aims to deliver 2 billion doses of approved and effective COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.

India reported a record jump in daily coronavirus infections on Friday and became the third country in the world to surpass 2 million cases. It lags only the United States and Brazil in the number of infections.