Vaccine hesitancy now greatest threat in overcoming COVID-19: Poonawalla

Pune: Chief Executive Officer of the Serum Institute of India (SII) Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday said that Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy is the greatest threat in overcoming the pandemic.

The SII chief also urged all the adults to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

"The vaccine industry has worked tirelessly to provide enough stocks for the nation. Today there are over 200 million doses available with states. Vaccine hesitancy is now the greatest threat in overcoming this pandemic." he added.

SII is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer and has manufactured hundreds of millions of doses of Covishield. The company has also exported the Covid-19 vaccine to the WHO-backed COVAX under the Government of India's Vaccine Maitri initiative.

Recently, the Centre has launched the program 'Har ghar dastak' campaign which aims to ensure that all the adult population is covered with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

In an interactive session, Dr Manohar Agnani, Additional Secretary of the Union Health Ministry also said that the target is to reach at least 90 per cent single-dose vaccination.

Dr Agnani also stressed on the importance of taking both the vaccine doses.