SII founder Cyrus Poonawalla objects to mixing of vaccines

He criticises govt’s export ban on vaccine, but lauds it for cutting red tape

Serum Institute of India (SII) founder Cyrus Poonawalla on Friday expressed strong disapproval of any move to mix COVID-19 vaccine doses. He stated categorically that it was wrong to make “a cocktail of vaccines” by mixing Covishield and Covaxin. Dr. Poonawalla, who is the Chairman and Managing Director of the Cyrus Poonwalla Group, which includes the SII, also criticised the Central government for its ban on exporting vaccines. At the same time, he commended it for cutting through the bureaucratic red tape in securing permission for manufacturing vaccines while recalling the onerous delay the vaccine industry had to face in the past during the ‘permit raj’ era, “It is very wrong to make a cocktail of vaccines. Such a mixing is not at all proven in field trials…in the event something goes wrong, there could be a blame game between the two vaccine makers with each finding fault with the other’s vaccine,” he said at an award function here.