Monkeypox: Serum Institute in talks with Danish firm to import vaccine

New Delhi: Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Tuesday that the company is in talks with the Danish firm Bavarian Nordic to import a small batch of monkeypox vaccines after cases saw an uptick in India, PTI reported.

Poonawalla told NDTV that if the collaboration happens, it could take two to three months to import the vaccine into the country. However, local development of the vaccine will happen after watching for a few months and assessing the situation, as only a handful of positive cases were reported in the country.

So far, India has reported four cases, and three of them were from Kerala.

Poonawalla said, "I am ready to do that immediately as a security to our nation. As soon as we can have some sort of commercial tie-up to import it and based on availability from Bavarian Nordic, we are hoping to do so."

Bavarian Nordic has developed a vaccine against monkeypox, which is available in different markets under the brand names, Jynneos, Imvamune and Imvanex.

Poonawalla said, "My team is talking to them right now. For larger volumes, we take a call based on true demand and necessity. SII is ready to import some batches on its own cost initially," he said but added the government would have to decide how to go about for larger volumes. "…have collaborated very well with the government earlier, and we need to have that close coordination even now," he added.

He further said that, even if his company started manufacturing vaccines now, it would take a year to come up with a market-ready product.

"To make it from scratch is difficult as it would take time and investment.. not sure if we were able to do it..it would have to be with someone else..," he said.

He added, "As a manufacturer, we really need to see if there is a demand or in 4-5 months it is going to fizzle out and treatments that are there are going to take care of the disease like this so we will have to wait and watch."

Later he said, "You don't need to vaccinate the entire population..in certain regions where the spread is there, you would like to vaccinate over there..and we are talking about importing some vaccine doses as finished product just over the next few months as abundant precaution if the country needs it..,"

According to him, there is no need to panic as only a few cases were detected though the disease has been there for decades.

"We need to be vigilant, and we need to follow WHO guidelines that have been set out in these particular areas and particular communities to follow so that we can reduce the spread as much as possible," he suggested.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a global public health emergency of international concern. The disease is transmitted from infected animals to humans via direct or indirect contact. Human-to-human transmission can occur through direct contact with infectious skin or lesions, including face-to-face, skin-to-skin, and respiratory droplets.

More than 16,000 cases have been reported from 75 countries so far globally. However, only five deaths have been reported from the outbreak so far.