Interviewtimes 
Serum Insitute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla has left India and moved to London because of threatening phone calls from country’s “most powerful” people for instant supplies of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield.
SII is manufacturing AstraZeneca-Oxford University’s Covishield vaccine in India.
In an interview, Poonawalla said he had been getting phone calls from the “most powerful” in India, including chief ministers, and business leaders, for immediate supply of Covishield vaccine.
“Threats is an understatement. The level of expectation and agression is really unprecedented. It’s overwhelming. Everyone feels they should get the vaccine. They can’t understand why anyone else should get it before them,” Poonawalla said referrring to the phone calls.
Explaining the phone calls and the agressive tone, he said, “They are saying if you don’t give us the vaccine it’s not going to be good. It’s not foul language, it’s the tone. It’s the implication of what they might do if I don’t comply. It’s coming over and basically surrounding the place and not letting us do anything unless we give in to their demands.”
